FIRST FOOT.
The Regiment was in the service of Sweden from 1625 to 1633, and in that of France from 1633 to 1678, except in 1661, 1667, and 1668.
Tradition asserts that it was originally the Body-Guard of the Scottish Kings.
It bore, in 1633, St. Andrew’s Cross, with Thistle and Crown; and, in 1751, the distinction of the Colours of 2nd Battalion was a flaming ray of gold from the upper corner of each Colour to the centre.
It bears the Royal Cypher within the Collar of St. Andrew, and the Crown over it; also the Thistle and Crown, with the motto of the Order, “Nemo me impune lacessit.”
It captured a Colour from the Moors at the defence of Tanjier, in 1680, for which it received its title in 1684; it also captured the Duke of Monmouth’s Standard at the Battle of Sedgmoor, 1685.
It is nicknamed “Pontius Pilate’s Body Guard,” from its antiquity.