CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatory T (Treg) cells can play a critical role in the prevention of autoimmunity, as evidenced by the cataclysmic autoimmune disease that develops in mice and humans lacking the key transcription factor forkhead box protein 3 (Foxp3). At present, however, how and whether Treg cells participate in the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which has both systemic manifestations and a joint‐targeted pathology that characterizes the disease, remains unclear. In this review, we describe work that has been carried out aimed at determining the role of Treg cells in disease development in RA patients and in mouse models of inflammatory arthritis. We also describe studies in a new model of spontaneous autoimmune arthritis (TS1 × HACII mice), in which disease is caused by CD4⁺ T cells recognizing a neo‐self‐antigen expressed by systemically distributed antigen‐presenting cells. We show that TS1 × HACII mice develop arthritis despite the presence of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ Treg cells that recognize this target autoantigen, and we outline steps in the development of arthritis at which Treg cells might potentially act, or fail to act, in the development of inflammatory arthritis.