3rd Dragoons

3rd The King's Own Hussars
3rd The King's Own Hussars Cap Badge
Active	1685–1958
Country	Kingdom of England (1685–1707)  Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800)  United Kingdom (1801–1958)
Branch	British Army
Type	Cavalry of the Line/Royal Armoured Corps
Role	Light Cavalry
Size	1 Regiment
Nickname(s)	The Moodkee Wallahs, Bland's Dragoons
Motto(s)	Nec Aspera Terrent (Latin Nor do difficulties deter)
March	(Quick) Robert the Devil (slow) The 3rd Hussars
Anniversaries	Dettingen Day, El Alamein Day.

The 3rd (The King's Own) Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War, before being amalgamated with the 7th Queen's Own Hussars, to form the Queen's Own Hussars in November 1958.

The formation of the 3rd The King's Own Hussars can be traced back to 1685. The advent of the Monmouth Rebellion in that year led the King of England, James II, to expand the military forces under his command to suppress the rebellion. A number of infantry and cavalry units were raised during 1685, including a unit of three troops of cavalry detached from the Duke of Somerset's Royal Dragoons on 16 June by the order of the King. The three troop captains were ordered to recruit a number of volunteers from the regions around London, including Middlesex, Berkshire and Essex, and then proceed to Acton in Middlesex. Once the unit had arrived, it was ordered to guard the northern approaches to the City of London against any attempts by the forces commanded by the Duke of Monmouth to attack the city. When Monmouth's forces were defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685, the unit was still stationed in Middlesex and had not encountered any rebel troops. In the aftermath of the failed rebellion, the original three troops were combined with three more cavalry troops, one independent and two newly raised, to form The Queen Consort's Regiment of Dragoons.

In 1688, the Prince of Orange, William of Orange, led an invasion of England in what came to be known as the Glorious Revolution, landing a force of 14,000 troops in Devon on 5 November. James II assembled the English army on Salisbury Plain, approximately 80 miles (130 km) from where William had landed his invasion force, to protect London; however, as William's forces advanced, a large number of English regiments defected and travelled south to pledge their loyalty to William. The Queen Consort's Regiment of Dragoons was split by a division of loyalties; Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Leveson, along with several captains, led the majority of the regiment to Devon in support of William, but Colonel Cannon and his own troop remained loyal to James II and followed the remnants of James' army as it retreated to London. On 31 December, William promoted Leveson to Colonel of the regiment, and Leveson proceeded to raise new recruits and horses to replace those who had remained loyal to James; the regiment continued to recruit from the Home Counties, with recruitment particularly focusing within Bedfordshire, and it was renamed as Leveson's Dragoons in honour of Leveson and his support of William.