After the conclusion of the Treaty of Amiens, a reduction of two troops was made in the establishment; but on the breaking out of the war in 1803, the army was again augmented, and an addition of two troops was again made to the strength of the regiment. [Sidenote: 1804] In the following year King George III. was pleased to confer upon the regiment the distinguished title of THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES'S REGIMENT OF DRAGOON GUARDS, in honour of Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte Carolina Augusta, daughter of George William Frederick Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.), by Carolina Amelia Elizabeth, second daughter of the Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel. The Princess Charlotte of Wales exhibited in her early life a most amiable disposition with excellent traits of character, and, being considered as the future sovereign of Great Britain, the nation saw in her qualities calculated to adorn the throne, and to make a great and civilized people happy; hence, the conferring of Her Royal Highness's title on the regiment, was considered a special mark of His Majesty's favour and approbation. [Sidenote: 1805] [Sidenote: 1808] The regiment proceeded to Ireland in 1805, and remained in that country until the summer of 1808, when it returned to England. [Sidenote: 1811] On the 8th of July, 1811, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, who was Regent of the United Kingdom during the indisposition of King George III., reviewed the regiment on Wimbledon common, on which occasion it was commanded by its Colonel, the veteran General Thomas Bland, and the Prince Regent was graciously pleased to express his approbation of its appearance, and of the rapidity and brilliant execution of its movements; and as the regiment was about to proceed on foreign service, the most lively anticipations of its achievements at the theatre of war were produced. It was not, at this period, mounted on horses of so heavy a description as formerly; but, while it bore the title of a heavy cavalry regiment, and retained sufficient weight for a powerful charge in line, it had acquired a lightness which rendered it available for every description of service. The heavy cavalry corps which formerly constituted so important a portion of the armies of England, had been improved in efficiency and usefulness by mounting them on horses of a lighter description. The occasion of the FIFTH DRAGOON GUARDS proceeding abroad at this period, was the attempt made by that tyrannical power which had risen out of the French revolution, of which Napoleon Bonaparte had become the head, to subjugate the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal: the inhabitants of those countries were in arms against the usurper; a British force commanded by Lord Wellington had been sent to their aid; and this regiment was one of the corps selected to reinforce the army under his lordship's command.