27. Restoration of the monarchy. Charles II, the Merry Monarch and his reign.

The Restoration

In 1660 Parliament offered to restore the monarchy if Charles would agree to concessions for religious toleration and a general amnesty. Charles was not as hard-headed as his father, and he agreed to the proposals. He returned to London on a wave of popular support to be crowned Charles II (1660-85). Charles' closest five advisors had initials which formed the word "Cabal", which came to mean a secret association because they were suspected to be the real power behind the throne. The Restoration was notable for a relaxation of the strict Puritan morality of the previous decades. Theatre, sports, and dancing were revived. Charles' court was notable for its revelry and licentiousness. While Charles was enjoying his new court, he was less than successful internationally. The English fought a losing naval war with the Dutch, and England's presence on the high seas had never been so low.

Plague and Fire

Things on dry land weren't all that much better. In 1665 the Great Plague hit London, decimating the population.The following year the Great Fire burned 450 acres and left large parts of the capital in ruins. The fire is said to have started in a bakehouse at the bottom of Pudding Lane. Today, the height of Christopher Wren's London Monument in King William Street is the distance from that point to the site of the bakehouse. The best description of this period of English history comes from the meticulous diaries of Samuel Pepys, a high official in the naval office.

1660-85. Early Life

The eldest surviving son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France, daughter of Henry IV of France, the future Charles II was born on 29th May 1630, at St. James Palace, London, the second child of the marriage, he replaced an elder brother, Charles James, who had died shortly after birth. Charles was a large, dark, but healthy baby.

Civil War broke out between his father and Parliament in 1642, causing Charles' mother, Henrietta Maria and his younger siblings to be sent to the safety of her native France. Prince Charles and his younger brother, James, Duke of York, remained with their father during the early stages of the Civil War. He first saw action at the Battle of Edgehill, but following the defeat at Marston Moor in 1644, was sent to Bristol, where he was placed in command of the West Country.

Charles II as Prince of Wales

Charles' appearance was anything but English, with his sensuous curling mouth, dark complexion, black hair and dark brown eyes, he much resembled his Italian maternal grandmother, Marie de Medici's side of the family. During his escape after the Battle of Worcester, he was referred to as 'a tall, black man' in parliamentary wanted posters. One of the nicknames he acquired was the black boy His height, at six feet two inches, probably inherited from his Danish paternal grandmother, Anne of Denmark also set him apart from his contemporaries in a time when the average Englishman was far smaller than today.

In 1646, as matters began to deteriorate for the Royalist cause and Parliament gained the upper hand, Charles was sent out of the country, where he joined his mother in France. When Charles I was on trial for life, the desperate Prince Charles sent Cromwell a carte blanche signed Charles P, thereby inviting Cromwell to name any terms for his father's life. Cromwell ignored the offer. He learned of his father's death when a fellow exile addressed him as "Your Majesty". Deeply distressed, Charles burst into tears and left the room. In an attempt to regain the lost throne of the Stuarts, Charles sailed for Scotland to ally himself with the Covenanters against their mutual enemy, Oliver Cromwell. He found it a humiliating experience. Their dour form of Presbyterianism was forced on him and the young Charles, with characteristic cynicism, found he had "to repent me that I was ever born," On 3 September 1650, the Covenanters were defeated at the Battle of Dunbar by a much smaller force led by Oliver Cromwell. Charles was nevertheless crowned King of Scotland at Scone in January 1651.

With the Parliamentary forces threatening the royalist position in Scotland, the decision was reached to mount an attack on England. With many of the Scots refusing to take part, and with few English royalists joining the force as it moved south into England, Charles marched into England to confront Cromwell at the head of a Scottish army. Charles suffered defeat at the Battle of Worcester on 3rd September, 1651. The battle was short and culminated in a complete rout of the Royalist forces. The Duke of Hamilton had his head blown off, and Charles, having watched the progress of the battle from the Cathedral tower assumed command of his forces. He had two horses killed under him and half the Scots refused to charge, despite his admonitions " I command you - upon your honor and loyalty - charge!" They refused to advance on the enemy. Cromwell finally broke into Worcester and Charles was forced into flight. Two thousand Royalist troops lay dead, while 3,000 were taken prisoner.

Charles II

Charles then spent six desperate weeks as a fugitive in hiding in England. He had his hair cut short to evade capture and donned leather breeches and a felt hat, imitating a country accent. After the Restoration the king loved to regale friends with accounts of his miraculous escape. He first took refuge at Boscobel House, near Worcester, where he narrowly escaped capture by famously hiding in an oak tree for the course of a day, consuming large quantities of beer, bread and cheese while praying he would avoid detection by the Roundhead troops which scoured the area.

He was assisted, among others, by the heroic Jane Lane, sister of Colonel Lane and posed as her manservant. Cromwell offered a reward of £1,000 for information which led to his capture. Charles also hid at Moseley Hall where he made the acquaintance of one Father Huddleston, a Roman Catholic priest. He was at one point told by a blacksmith attending to the horses that "if that rogue" (meaning Charles) " were taken, he deserves to be hanged more than all else the rest for bringing in the Scots." He boarded a ship to the continent at Shoreham, the captain, Nicholas Tattershall, was unaware of the identity of his illustrious passenger, having been informed he was a merchant escaping debts.

The next nine years of Charles' life were spent as a nomadic, aimless and at times penniless exile in Europe, his experiences aged him prematurely and made him ever more cynical and watchful. On 3rd September 1658, Cromwell died. His son, Richard Cromwell, to whom he had bequeathed the Protectorate, had no aptitude for government. Accordingly, General Monck laid proposals before Parliament for the restoration of the monarchy.

The Restoration of the Monarchy

Advised by his father's minister Edward Hyde, (later created Earl of Clarendon), Charles issued the Declaration of Breda promising to uphold the Anglican church, pardon his enemies and submit difficult matters to the direction of Parliament. This satisfied all but a hardcore element in England and he was invited to return as King.

Arriving at Dover on 23 May 1660, King Charles II entered London on 29th May, his thirtieth birthday, to a resounding welcome by around fifty thousand people. Bonfires flared, trumpets blared and flags were waved, as he set foot on the shore, he knelt and gave thanks to God. He spent the weekend at Canterbury before proceeding to London. General Monck presented him with a list of forty people he wished to see elected on the Privy Council, for which Charles thanked him. On entering London, he rode past Whitehall, the site of his father's execution. With typical cynicism, he later humorously remarked that it was undoubtedly his own fault that he had been away so long, as he had met with no one " who did not protest that he had ever wished for my return".

The Death of Charles II

On the morning of 1st February 1685, Charles arose feeling unwell and later suffered a seizure while being shaved, which resulted in the loss of the power of speech. A recovery appears to have been made and there was general rejoicing, but his condition began to deteriorate again and it was soon becoming apparent to all present that the King was dying. Helped on his way, without doubt, by the frantic efforts of his doctors, he was purged, frequently bled and blistered, and red-hot irons were applied to his shaven head. There are many theories as to what Charles II died of, but the most probable of these is uremia, a syndrome caused by dysfunction of the kidneys. The symptoms of the illness include nausea, vomiting, headache, dimness of vision, convulsions and finally coma. At the last, at the prompting of the Duke of York, he was accepted into the Catholic Church. Father Huddlestone, a priest who had saved his life after the Battle of Worcester, was secretly ushered into the King's bed-chamber by the duke. The King, with his mistresses and children around him, blessed them all and commended them into the care of James, adding with characteristic kindness "and let not poor Nelly starve". At 6 o'clock on the morning of 6 February 1685, as the angel of death crouched over St James' Palace with suspended sword, Charles asked that the curtains be drawn, so that he could see the dawn over the River Thames for the last time. Soon after he lost the power of speech, and drifted into a coma, dying at noon.

Charles had been the most popular of the Stuarts and was sincerely mourned by his people. The Marquess of Halifax wrote of him

The truth is, the calling of a King, with all its glittering, hath such a weight upon it, that they may rather expect to be lamented than envied. Let his royal ashes then lie soft upon him. If all who are akin to his vices should mourn for him, never Prince would go better to his grave.'

After lying in state in the Painted Chamber at Whitehall, the funeral of Charles II took place on 14th February, he was buried in a vault in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey. He was succeeded by his brother as James II. Queen Catherine survived her husband for many years, she spent much time at a convent at Hammersmith and later moved to Somerset House. For the sake of her late husband, she attempted to intercede with James II for the life of her errant stepson, the Duke of Monmouth. She returned to Portugal in 1692, where she spent her last years as Regent of the country during the incapacity of her brother, King Pedro, during which she was held with much esteem. Catherine finally died in 1705.