Lord Wentworth's Regiment

Lord Wentworth's Regiment was a regiment of infantry raised during the exile of King Charles II during the Interregnum. Formed as the Royal Regiment of Guards in 1656 at Bruges under the command of the Earl of Rochester, [First colonel of the Guards
*Plant, David. [http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/wilmot.htm Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, 1612-58] [http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/ British Civil Wars]
*Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=55546#s14 A collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, volume 5: An abstract of the contents of several letters] British History Online] it was made up of men who remained loyal to the King and had followed him into exile. When Rochester died in February 1658 command passed to Thomas Wentworth, 5th Baron Wentworth. The regiment served as part of the Spanish Army during the Franco-Spanish War and the concurrent Anglo-Spanish War in the Spanish Netherlands and saw action at the Battle of the Dunes (1658) under the command of Wentworth, before accompanying the King back to England to reclaim the throne at the Restoration in 1660. In 1665, the regiment was amalgamated with John Russell's Regiment of Guards to form the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards. [Staff [http://www.ekb.org.uk/ekb.asp East Kent Branch of the Grenadier Guards Association:] [http://www.ekb.org.uk/ekb/origins.asp Origins] ]

References

Ormonde Papers: Year date checked with Chelsea Army Museum Curator.

Thomas Wentworth to Edward Broughton. Breda, June 24, 1649. "You are to receive such men as shall be delivered you on shipboard as part of a Regiment to the Kings Guards, and you to command them as Sergeant Major to the said Regiment, and at your landing in Ireland you are to obey such orders and directions as you shall receive from the Marquis of Ormonde, the Lieutenant General of the Kingdom of Ireland. For Major Edward Broughton, Major in the Kings Guard of Foot "

This is quite possible as Wentworth as a Civil Servant could have issued the instructions acting on His Masters orders, or the king could have been temporarily in Breda where his permanent Court was then situate. [ See quotes above ] . Battle of Worcester where Charles II was defeated was Sept 1651

I understand that this regiment may have been the most senior portion absorbed into Russell's? Regiment and then the Ist Grenadier Guards.

If this proves to be true the 1st Grenadier Guards ARE possibly the 2nd regiment of Irish Guards raised. But in any case were there remnants of the first Irish Guards Regiment absorbed in a Second Regiment of Irish Guards. Come along now the Establishment, lets have some research free of propaganda and the compromise imposed by your predecessors at the restoration of 28 May 1660!