The 2nd Lancers Regiment is a unit of the Portuguese Army

Portuguese Army

The Portuguese Army is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in co-operation with other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the defence of Portugal...

 responsible for the instruction, organization and maintenance of the Polícia do Exército (Army Police) operational units.

History

The origins of the 2nd Lancers Regiment date back to the creation of the Queen's Lancers Regiment in 1833, by the constitutional army during the Liberal Wars

History of Portugal (1777–1834)

The history of Portugal from the beginning of Queen Maria I's reign in 1777, to the end of the Liberal Wars in 1834, spans a complex historic period in which several important political and military events led to the end of the absolutist regime and to the installation of a constitutional monarchy...

. The idea for the creation of the regiment came from the observation of the success that resulted from the lancer

Lancer

A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used in mounted warfare by the Assyrians as early as and subsequently by Greek, Persian, Gallic, Han-Chinese, nomadic and Roman horsemen...

s during the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. Since its creation the regiment became an elite unit, responsible for the escort of the royal family, being mostly composed of aristocratic officers.

Two lancer regiments were created by the 1834 army re-organization, the second unit of which was broken down as follows::

1834 - 2nd Cavalry Regiment

1844 - 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the Queen's Lancers

1884 - 2nd Cavalry Regiment

1888 - 2nd Cavalry Regiment of Prince Charles

1890 - 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the King's Lancers

1911 - 2nd Cavalry Regiment

1948 - 2nd Lancers Regiment

1975 - Military Police Regiment

1976 - Lisbon Lancers Regiment

1993 - 2nd Lancers Regiment

The regiment continued employing the lance as a combat weapon until World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, after which it was restricted to ceremonial use. At the beginning of the war the unit was equipped with armored cars and light tank

Light tank

A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movement, and now primarily employed in low-intensity conflict. Early light tanks were generally armed and armored similar to an armored car, but used tracks in order to provide better cross-country mobility.The light tank was a major...

s. In 1953 with the creation of the Military Police, the regiment assumed the function of organizing, training and maintaining the forces of this specialized force. The unit was renamed the Army Police in 1976.