In 1711 the Emperor Joseph died, King Charles proceeded from Spain to Germany, and was elected Emperor of the Romans. This event removed one of the competitors for the throne of Spain. King Philip made a formal renunciation of his claim to succeed to the throne of France, and the danger of an union of the kingdoms of France and Spain was thus removed. Negotiations for a general peace were commenced, and in the summer of 1712 the officers and men of the ROYAL DRAGOONS quitted Spain and returned to England. They were mounted on Spanish horses; but before they quitted Catalonia their horses were sold, and the men returned home dismounted. [Sidenote: 1713] After their arrival in England the ROYAL DRAGOONS were stationed in dispersed quarters in Yorkshire; and the establishment was fixed at twenty-seven officers, eight quarter-masters, and three hundred and twenty-eight non-commissioned officers and private men. During the summer of 1713 a detachment of the regiment proceeded to Dover, and received a draft of two hundred horses from Kerr's (now seventh) dragoons, which regiment was ordered to proceed, dismounted, to Ireland, where it was disbanded. [Sidenote: 1714] On the decease of Queen Anne on the 1st of August, 1714, the ROYAL DRAGOONS left Yorkshire, and marched into quarters in the villages near London; but after the arrival of King George I. from Hanover they returned to Yorkshire, and a reduction of fifty men was made in the establishment.[42] [Sidenote: 1715] In January, 1715, two troops of the ROYAL DRAGOONS, with three troops of the Scots greys, and a newly-raised troop of dragoons, were incorporated into a regiment--the present seventh hussars.[43] The establishment was thus reduced to six troops; and on the 13th of June in the same year the colonelcy was conferred on RICHARD LORD COBHAM, who was advanced to the dignity of Viscount three years afterwards. At this period Jacobite principles were very prevalent in the United Kingdom; and in September, 1715, the Earl of Mar raised the standard of rebellion in Scotland, and excited the clans to take arms in favour of the Pretender. The ROYAL DRAGOONS were immediately ordered to the North; and in the early part of October they arrived at Edinburgh, from whence they marched immediately afterwards, and, being placed under the command of Lieutenant-General Carpenter, went in pursuit of a body of rebels. [Sidenote: 1716]