In the spring of 1688, the regiment proceeded to Portsmouth, and passed the summer months in that garrison; but in September it was ordered to march to London.
The short period during which King James II. had occupied the throne, had been pregnant with events of a most alarming character to the nation, and every evil which the people had feared would follow the accession of a popish prince to sovereign power, appeared on the eve of transpiring. The rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth had furnished the King with a pretext for augmenting the regular army, which he continued on a high establishment, and increased, from time to time, without the consent of parliament. The troops were embodied by the authority of the crown only, and were paid, either from the civil list, or by diverting moneys, intended for other objects, to that purpose; and the King even appeared to have formed the design of governing without parliaments, of rendering himself absolute, and of subverting the reformed religion. His Majesty's principal dependence for the success of his unconstitutional projects was placed in the devotedness of his troops; but his conduct disgusted the military as well as his other subjects; and the cheers of the soldiers on Hounslow Heath at the acquittal of the bishops, whom the King had imprisoned and brought to trial for opposing his measures, proved that he had entirely lost their sympathy, and could no longer trust to them for support.
The King's proceedings having filled the nation with alarm and consternation, the Prince of Orange, who was the King's nephew and son-in-law, and a zealous advocate for the Protestant interest, was solicited to come to England with a body of troops to assist the nobility and gentry in opposing the proceedings of the court. At the same time, many of the superior officers of the English army, who were most zealous for the welfare of the kingdom and the preservation of the reformed religion, seeing the danger to which the constitution in church and state was exposed, formed themselves into a secret association, and engaged not to fight in the cause of papacy and arbitrary power, but to further the objects of the Prince of Orange; and Brigadier-General Charles Trelawny, Colonel of the QUEEN'S regiment of foot, was one of the members of this association.