Royal Irish Regiment of Foot Guards
The Royal Irish Regiment of Foot Guards, or His Majesty’s Regiment of Guards in Ireland, was a regiment of foot guards first raised in 1662 for service in Ireland. Part of the Irish Army of Charles II, it was initially garrisoned around Dublin.
James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, who was given the commission to raise the Foot Guards in 1662
The Irish Army or Irish establishment, in practice called the monarch's "army in Ireland" or "army of Ireland", was the standing army of the Kingdom of Ireland, a client state of England and subsequently of Great Britain. It existed from the early 1660s until merged into the British Army in 1801, and for much of the period was the largest force available to the British monarchy, being substantially larger than the English and Scottish establishments.
The Royal Hospital Kilmainham was established in 1680 for the welfare of former soldiers.
Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell; appointed head of the army in Ireland by James II in 1685 and Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1687, he increased Catholic recruitment in an effort to create an establishment loyal to James
The Battle of Aughrim (1691) was a defeat for James II's Irish Army. Shortly afterwards much of the Army left for France in the Flight of the Wild Geese.
