On the 20th of the same month the regiment was again in motion, and took post at Villa Franca. In the mean time Badajoz had been invested by the allies, and Marshal Soult was advancing with a powerful army, to the relief of the place. Marshal Beresford, who commanded this portion of the allied army, resolved to take up a position at _Albuhera_; when the THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS proceeded by Almendralejo to Santa Martha, and were at their post in the army when the French attacked the allied forces on the morning of the 16th of May. In the early part of the action the enemy gained considerable advantage: a powerful effort was, however, made by the allies, and 'then was seen with what a strength and majesty the British soldier fights.'[56] The French, repulsed and driven back, relinquished the contest, leaving thousands of their hostile legions stretched along the plain. The allied army also sustained great loss, particularly the English infantry. The THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Granby Calcraft, contributed materially to the success of the day: they lost one lieutenant, thirteen men, and twenty-one horses; and His Majesty King William IV. was graciously pleased, on the 5th of May, 1837, to grant permission to the regiment to bear on its standards and appointments the word 'ALBUHERA,' in commemoration of the gallantry displayed in that battle. On the 18th of May the enemy retired, followed by part of the army, and by the cavalry, under Major-General Lumley. On the 25th the THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS and Fourth Dragoons were formed up in front of _Usagre_, when three of the enemy's 'chosen regiments (the Fourth, Twentieth, and Twenty-sixth) dashed through the town and formed rapidly on the flank of the THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS and in front of the Fourth Dragoons, themselves presenting two fronts. A charge of the THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS was at this moment ordered on the right, and a simultaneous movement of the Fourth Dragoons on the left.'[57] Major Weston, who commanded the THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS on that day (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Granby Calcraft having been left sick in the rear) led the regiment forward with admirable gallantry. The charge was irresistible. The French, notwithstanding their superiority of numbers, were overthrown, pursued, many of them sabred, and one lieutenant-colonel, two majors, and several other officers, with ninety-six non-commissioned officers and men were made prisoners; a great number of horses were also captured, the French dragoons having dismounted to effect their escape across a ravine. In this brilliant affair the regiment only lost four men; and, on the 27th of May, it returned to Villa Franca, having been nearly without forage the two preceding days.