The Restorer

King Charles II of Britain

The man who would become King Charles II was born on May 29, 1630 to King Charles I, son of King James I; the first Stuart to reign over England, and Queen Henrietta Maria, sister of King Louis XIII of France. He had a happy childhood with his brother and sisters and two devoted parents. However, this period of his life was cut short with the onset of the English Civil War when he was only 12 years old. Despite his age though, his father was determined that young Charles would learn the lessons of kingship first hand. The young Prince of Wales witnessed the battle of Edgehill and the campaign in Cornwall before the King made him commander-in-chief of the royalist forces in western England in 1645 at Bristol. Since he was only 14 he was not actively in command but it was an opportunity to learn.

For the next year the Prince and his men were pushed and prodded by superior Parliamentary forces before finally being forced to leave the country. He joined his mother in Paris where the King had sent her and the children for their safety and in 1648 the Prince of Wales commanded the fleet which had broken with Parliament and declared for the King. However, this did not last long as early the following year he learned that his father the King had been executed by the forces of Parliament and that Oliver Cromwell was dictator of Great Britain. Charles went into exile in Holland but from start to finish was determined to see the murderers of his father brought to justice and the Stuart monarchy restored to the three kingdoms.

Only the following month after the regicide of Charles I, in February of 1649, the people of Ireland rose up in the name of Charles II, the rightful king. Ireland knew what they could expect from the fiercely anti-Catholic Puritans and Oliver Cromwell did not disappoint them. Cromwell invaded Ireland and laid waste to the country, butchering thousands of innocent people. This led to the famous "Flight of the Wild Geese" and ultimately the campaign destroyed roughly half of the entire population of Ireland. Many were massacred, many starved, were sold into slavery and many fled to join the armies of Catholic nations in Europe where they earned quite a heroic reputation.

Charles himself had not really played a role in this rebellion that was fought in his name, but he did go in person when an opportunity seemed to present itself in Scotland. He landed in his ancestral homeland on June 24, 1649 but to his dismay was treated quite badly by the Scots who humiliated him and demanded that he sign the Covenant, as it was called, guaranteeing their own state church and even bringing a degree of Presbyterianism to England, in return for their support of his restoration. Charles signed it against his better judgment, but it did him no good anyway. The Parliamentary army was undoubtedly the best in the field and Cromwell had little difficulty defeating the Scots at the battle of Dunbar on September 3. It must have seemed like the old days of the civil war had returned for the uncrowned king who joined the army and occupied Worcester. The Parliamentary army retaliated quickly though and the Scots were crushed with Charles II barely escaping with his life. He found refuge with two prominent Catholic families, at one point even hiding in an oak tree while rebel forces searched for him right below. He finally escaped in disguise with the help of a heroic Catholic priest named Father John Huddleston. Charles went to France with nothing but his family name and was supported by the French who were no friends of Cromwell either.

Meanwhile, in the British Isles things became worse than ever. Scotland and Ireland were crushed under the boots of the Puritan soldiers; Cromwell broke Parliament when it would not bend to his wishes and abolished everything from dancing to Christmas. It did not take long for more and more people to start longing for the good old days of the monarchy before the government became so invasive and totalitarian all in the name of liberty. Also during this period, Charles II did not better himself. Eventually moving his exile to the Netherlands, as Charles grew to adulthood he soon displayed the gross promiscuity he would become known for. He began leading a very debauched life with a succession of mistresses and producing a small army of illegitimate children. This depravity as well as his political maneuverings stood him in stark contrast to his father King Charles I who had been a faithful husband and so strongly principled that he would never compromise his personal beliefs.

Nonetheless, Charles did not have to be a very virtuous man to appear as a vast improvement over the iron-fisted Oliver Cromwell. When Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 his son Richard Cromwell attempted to succeed him as Lord Protector but it was clear the people would not have it. General George Monck marched on London and dissolved Parliament, forcing Cromwell to call for new elections and ultimately to resign his office. In the first general election in 20 years the royalists swept to power. On April 4, 1660 Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda which stated that Charles considered his reign to have begun upon the death of his father and a promise for clemency to those involved in the civil war who had not been directly responsible for the death of Charles I. This was accepted and the restoration became fact when Charles II returned to London in 1660 amid great rejoicing with many people wearing oak leaves in memory of the time Charles was forced to hide in the oak tree.

Upon resuming the throne Charles II said that he did not wish to go on his travels, as he put it, again and resolved himself to doing whatever was possible to maintain the monarchy rather than taking a do or die stand as his father had. On the whole Charles certainly possessed the moral flexibility to do this and also immediately revoked all of the harsh Puritan laws the country had known under Cromwell. Because of this, as well as his fondness for dancing, partying and womanizing, led Charles to earn the nickname of the Merry Monarch. This was a term of endearment for most people and there was a sense that after so many years under dour, Puritanical oppression the public was glad to enjoy a little frivolity again and Charles II himself certainly embodied this and ensured that Merry Old England became merry again. For the King, the great work of the restoration had been done and his primary concern was now to simply maintain what he had accomplished.

Charles II was crowned in April of 1661 and soon arranged a marriage to Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess. Charles himself was not too impressed with the match at first, but the Catherine brought with her a considerable dowry and the Portuguese colonies of Bombay and Tangier which helped overcome the opposition to the match which came mostly from the radical Protestants who protested because Catherine was a foreigner and a devout Catholic. Even Charles himself overcame his initial opinion of the Queen and like most of the common people was soon won over by her charming kindness. He made no effort to interfere with her religion so long as she practiced it privately and though he was never a good, faithful husband, he did become quite fond of the Queen and her opinion carried weight with him. She was someone he knew he could trust, though he continued his flagrant adultery. It is doubtful whether Charles ever loved anyone so ruled as he was by lust, but he had a sort of respect for his wife and queen and was quite aware that she was the better half of their union.

When it came to the actual work of government the leading figure around Charles was Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, who pushed for adherence to the Church of England to be a sort of litmus test for loyalty to the Crown. This was something Charles II was not enthusiastic about. He knew that many Catholics were unmatched in their loyalty to the Crown and was reluctant to lose their talent and support with needless antagonism. His mother, Queen Henrietta Maria, was a devout Catholic as was his wife who was always loyal to him, which is more than she could say for him. Privately, Charles II himself once said that he believed Catholicism to be true but knew it would be political suicide to admit as much publicly. However, when push came to shove Charles gave in, as was his habit, and allowed the passage of the Clarendon Code which penalized those who did not accept the Church of England and was targeted mostly at Catholics.

The issue of religion, specifically extreme anti-Catholicism on the part of many powerful Protestant radicals, was to plague Charles II throughout his reign. Foreign policy was affected by it as Charles was more sympathetic to France who had sheltered him for a time, was the homeland of his mother and who continued to support him financially to maintain a degree of royal independence from Parliament. For many Protestants however, the French represented their most terrible fear of a combination of Catholicism and royal absolutism. The Protestant radicals could be counted on to always support a war with France, which the King opposed, but were much more reluctant to go to war against a Protestant power like the Dutch republic. Nonetheless, in 1665, this became the case with the start of the Second Dutch War which was intended to break Dutch dominance over global trade. Charles was aided in this by his brother James, Duke of York, who was named Lord High Admiral and who had earned quite a high reputation as a soldier in the armies of France and Spain during the Stuart exile.

Raids and counterattacks broke out around the world wherever there was a Dutch or English presence. In North America English forces captured the Dutch colony of New Netherland which was renamed New York in honor of Prince James. However, when the Dutch navy carried out a raid up the ThamesRiver they managed to surprise and all but annihilate the English fleet, even taking the English flagship back to Holland as a war trophy. Charles II was forced to come to terms with the Dutch and the war ended in 1667. Lord Clarendon bore the brunt of the blame for the fiasco and Charles II dismissed him and Parliament ultimately accusing him of treason. Undoubtedly a controversial figure, conditions did not really improve after Clarendon fled to France and the power vacuum around the King was filled by five rather unsavory characters. These were the Baron Clifford, the Earl of Arlington, the unscrupulous Duke of Buckingham, Baron Ashley (who later became known as Earl Shaftsbury) and the Duke of Lauderdale. Because of the great influence these men had, their unofficial status as powers behind the throne and the first letters of their names they became known as The Cabal.

It would be hard to say that Charles II was in any way well served by the Cabal, most of who were looking out for their own interests and nothing else. Problems continued to grow with Parliament and the King began to worry that despite his many concessions to popular opinion another civil war might have been in the making. Because of this, in 1670, following a forced war with France alongside Holland and Sweden, Charles II entered into the Treaty of Dover with King Louis XIV of France which stated that Louis would pay Charles 200,000 pounds a year and French support in the event of a rebellion in return for which Charles would give Louis military support and convert to Catholicism and restore the Catholic Church at an opportune time. Naturally, with so much hatred against Catholicism in Britain this had to be kept as a closely guarded secret, though as with most secret agreements word did eventually leak out.

This agreement, as well as his own private words, point to Charles II being a Catholic in his conscience, however, Charles never had much of a problem ignoring his conscience in favor of his own appetites and political necessity. Being as he was a man of relatively few firm convictions he was continually perplexed by the fanaticism that surrounded him, particularly in the area of religion. He wanted a religiously free and tolerant country, but that was proving difficult to achieve as was the one goal upon which he did display steadfast commitment which was ensuring the legitimate Stuart succession and strengthening the monarchy. A major problem in this regard came in 1672 when James, Duke of York, converted to Catholicism. James was, at the time, married to Anne Hyde, daughter of Lord Clarendon, and herself a Catholic convert; which is rather ironic considering the attitude of her father. The Queen Mother was quite pleased as she wished for all of her children to become Catholic like herself, but when word got out about what James had done it caused Charles considerable consternation. Parliament, dominated by radical Protestants, passed the Test Act which required adherence to the Church of England for everyone holding an office in the country. Charles, in his typically compromising way, urged James to take communion in the Anglican Church for the sake of expediency while remaining a Catholic in private. However, James was certainly a staunch Catholic if not an extremely devout one and he refused to do so and resigned his office of Lord High Admiral which made everyone aware of his religious stance. Following the death of his wife Anne from cancer he further enraged the radical Protestants by marrying a devout Catholic from Italy; Mary of Modena, in 1673.

Charles II now saw the Stuart succession gravely threatened by those Protestants who would not tolerate a king who was Catholic. Although Charles II fathered numerous illegitimate children Queen Catherine had been unable to have children by him. This meant that upon his death the throne would pass to the Catholic James and many powerful Protestants were determined not to allow this. The Duke of Buckingham urged Charles to divorce Catherine and marry a Protestant by whom he could have legitimate Protestant heirs, but to his credit Charles refused to do so. He was certainly far from being an ideal husband, but Charles admired Catherine and knew she endured more from him than most women would and he refused to simply cast her aside for the sake of politics. In attacking the legitimate succession, Parliament had finally found the one issue upon which Charles would not bend no matter how much pressure was applied to him. Nonetheless, he still did what he could to try to calm the situation. He took the daughters of James and Anne Hyde, Mary and Anne, and saw to it that they were raised Protestant and married to Protestant husbands. Mary went to Prince William of Orange in Holland and Anne went to Prince George of Denmark. He hoped that the Protestants would accept the succession of his brother if they could be sure he would succeeded by Protestant heirs rather than Catholic ones.

It is remarkable that Charles II managed as well as he did with the great disasters that confronted him, one after another. In 1665 there was a disastrous outbreak of bubonic plague in London, followed a year later by huge fire which engulfed the city. It eradicated the plague but left tens of thousands of people homeless. All the while fanatics in the streets were quick to blame every misfortune on the wrath of God being brought down by the Catholics around the King, especially his wife and brother. The extent to which the paranoia grew was most evident in the Titus Oates Plot or Popish Plot of 1678. Titus Oates was a disreputable figure who had been an Anglican, a Catholic and an apostate who started making outlandish claims that a Catholic conspiracy existed to assassinate Charles II and even the Duke of York which would be followed by a coup to establish a Catholic government in Britain. Sadly many Protestants were all to willing to believe the ridiculous story and even his claims that the conspiracy included the doctor of Queen Catherine and the secretary of Mary of Modena. Protestant ladies began carrying pistols for fear of being attacked by murderous Jesuit priests and despite a total lack of evidence Parliament took up the matter solely based on the accusations of Titus Oates. The House of Commons, dominated by radical Protestants, began arresting prominent Catholics, including Lord Stafford who was condemned to death. Charles II signed the death warrant in the face of such public pressure even though he knew it was unjust and that Lord Stafford was completely innocent. ?I sign with tears in my eyes? Charles said. The anti-Catholic hysteria even reached across to Ireland where Bishop Oliver Plunkett (who has since been canonized by the Catholic Church) was arrested and condemned to death, though he had to be taken to England because no jury in Ireland would have gone along with such an injustice. Again, Charles gave in to public pressure even though he knew the charges to be false.

The weakness Charles showed only emboldened Parliament all the more and things began to look a lot like they did under Charles I with Parliament attempting to dominate the country. They began demanding that Charles divorce Queen Catherine and introduced the Act of Exclusion to bar Roman Catholics from ascending the British throne. However, on this issue Charles II would not give way no matter what the consequences might be. He saw in this the total betrayal of everything his father had fought for and everything which he himself had stood for during the time of the exile and restoration. As Charles saw it, if Parliament could decide who would or would not succeed to the throne the monarchy would become nothing but the tool of political elites. Showing that deep down he did possess some principles which he would not compromise on, Charles II firmly dismissed the issue of divorce and declared that anyone who advocated a change in the legitimate succession was no better than a traitor. When the opposition refused to back down, probably thinking that the King would give in again, Charles shocked them all by dissolving Parliament and reigning in his own right for the rest of his life. Thanks to his secret treaty with France and the support of Louis XIV he would not, like his father, be forced to recall Parliament in order to have enough money to run the government.

For twenty five years Charles II played this delicate balancing game before taking to his deathbed in February of 1685. An Anglican bishop tried to give him communion but he refused and when James asked him if he wanted to see a priest he said yes. Ironically it was Father Huddleston who was on hand with Queen Catherine. He was disguised and brought in to see the dying King. Everyone left except for James and two Protestant nobles who acted as witnesses as Father Huddleston arrived. Charles II told him, "You that saved my body are now come to save my soul". He confessed, converted to Catholicism and received the last rites. He also spoke to his neglected wife who had at one point left the country after being so humiliated by his constant affairs. Which she asked Charles for forgiveness he responded by saying it was he who should beg forgiveness from her. However, he had not forgotten his other women, and Charles was always good to his mistresses if that amounts to anything and asked James to care for one of his favorites, Nell Gwyn saying, "Let not poor Nelly starve". He died on February 6, 1685 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His brother succeeded him smoothly as King James II, but his own reign would be anything but.

Today, Charles II is remembered as one of the most successful British monarchs. He was certainly a man with great faults and weaknesses but was a better man at heart than he often had the strength to be. He saw the monarchy restored, brought new life to the country, was a patron of many worthy causes and ensured the security of the legitimate succession. For all his laxity he proved to be a man of talent and a certain strength during times of crisis. The early British Empire expanded during his reign and it can be said that he wanted to be a better monarch than he was able to. His ideal of religious tolerance proved impossible to achieve and in fact would not be realized for some time to come, but Charles should be credited for seeing this before others could or would. It would be easy to credit many of the accomplishments of his reign to others, but as King the responsibility was his and just as he would have born the blame for failure he should be given credit for the success of the restoration, strengthening the monarchy and ensuring that the principles for which his father fought, specifically a balanced government, were not lost to political extremism.