In 'The Anatomy of Glory: Napoleon and his Guard by Henri Lachouque and Anne SK Brown [published 1978], the following observations are made about the composition of the Lancers of the Guard as re-formed for the Waterloo campaign:

'The Light Horse Lancers mustered 964 officers and men under General Colbert....the first squadron under Major Balinski was made up of Poles from the Elba sqaudraon [dark blue uniforms]...the other four squadrons [who wore the red uniform jacket of the old 'Dutch lancers, the 2nd Regiment of Lancers of the Guard'] came from the Royal Corps or from retirement.'

I'd infer from this that the 'Red' lancers at Waterloo were, in fact, mainly Frenchmen, either those who had served under the royalist regime in 1814/15, and/or those who were 'old soldiers'. The fact that operating as a lancer required significant training seems to suggest that those returning to Napoleon and joining the 'Red' Lancers would almost certainly have previously been lancers - possibly with line regiments as well as the Guard. It is improbable to suppose that large numbers of Dutchmen, even if they had survived the campaigns of 1812-14, would have 'hung around' in French employment, waiting for the possible return of the Emperor...but a few would and, it appears did. One of the squadron commanders of the 'Red Lancers' in the Hundred Days had the name of van Ticken....


Bagration