The 2nd Tangier Regiment was raised by the Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth

Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth

Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth was the illegitimate son of King Charles II of England, by Catherine Pegge. He had a sister called Catherine FitzCharles who became a nun. His mother went on to marry Sir Edward Greene of Samford in Essex, but they had no further children...

 in 1680.

Part of the Standing army

Standing army

A standing army is a professional permanent army. It is composed of full-time career soldiers and is not disbanded during times of peace. It differs from army reserves, who are activated only during wars or natural disasters...

 of King Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, the regiment's intended role was to help to garrison the Colony of Tangier, but that was evacuated four years later.

After a number of changes of name, it became the 4th (The King's Own) Regiment of Foot when regimental numbers were introduced in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

in 1751.