Charles II is crowned king of Scotland on January 1, 1651 at Scone. Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on January 30, 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Although the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II King of Great Britain and Ireland in Edinburgh on February 6, 1649, the English Parliament instead passed a statute that made any such proclamation unlawful. England entered the period known as the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France.
A political
crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of
the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On May 29, 1660,
his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all
legal documents were dated as if Charles had succeeded his father as king in
1649. Charles was popularly known as the Merrie Monarch, in reference to
both the liveliness and hedonism of his court and the general relief at the
return to normality after over a decade of rule by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans.
Charles's wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no children, but Charles
acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses.
Charles II
died on February 6, 1685 at Whitehall Palace. The suddenness of his illness and
death led to suspicion of poison in the minds of many, including one of the
royal doctors; however, more modern medical analysis has held that the symptoms
of his final illness are similar to those of kidney failure. On the last
evening of his life he was received into the Catholic Church, though the extent
to which he was fully conscious or committed, and with whom the idea
originated, is unclear. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. As illegitimate
children were excluded from the succession, he was succeeded to the throne by
his brother James.
Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain’s Royal Tombs: A
Guide to the Lives and Burial Places of British Monarchs. The book can
be purchased from Amazon or Barnes and Noble through the following links:
No comments:
Post a Comment