BOOK REVIEW - CHRISTOPHER FALKUS - CHARLES 2CD Introduction by Antonia
Fraser. 1975 Cardinal Press.
A slim nicely illustrated biography of the
King known as The Merry Monarch.
Charles had an idyllic childhood until the
Civil War tore England apart around his father. Charles now had to grow up
quickly. Even as a teenager he was given delicate diplomatic missions such as
the abortive messages he carried in a vain attempt to save Stafford from the
gallows.
Charles actually fought in some Civil War
battles in his teens and accompanied his father and younger brother James
(later King James 2cd) to Oxford. As the tide of war turned against the King,
the heir to the throne was sent off to the Scillies for protection, and from
there, via Jersey to France where he resided with his mother, Queen Henrietta
Marie.
With the shocking news of his father’s
execution in England, Charles became King in 1649. In 1650 he attempted to recapture the British Throne from
Cromwell’s Republican forces, but he was beaten at Worcester on September 3rd,
and after spending much time on the run (famously even hiding in an oak tree)
Charles returned to France in decadent, costly exile before being sent off
around Europe, with little money left, surrounded by Republican spies. .
As the Roundhead Commonwealth collapsed
after Cromwell’s death, Charles was freely invited back to rule Britain. The
Restoration was a lavish affair with fountains flowing with wine instead of
water.
The King’s court was a bawdy one. All
seemed happy and well until the plague of 1665 and fire of 1666, which are not
covered in great detail in the book, but afterwards, the political mood robbed
Charles of his merriment. Charles sired many illegitimate sons, and the oldest,
Monmouth, was to try to overthrow the throne in contempt and jealousy of the
Catholic James – a conflict which would spill over into James’s own reign.
Charles engaged in a disastrous war against the Dutch. Charles had several
affairs, gaining the nickname Old Rowley, after a stud racehorse he owned.
Charles was very fond of racing. His most famous lover, Nell Guinne, an actress
and orange selling prostitute gets relatively little mention as don’t many
other who were involved in the story, such as Rochester and Pepys. Only the
Popish Plot, a ludicrous conspiracy theory concocted by Titus Oates, gains
elaborate detail, - the hysteria
claimed the lives of many good people suspected of colluding with Rome to bring
Catholicism back into Britain. Charles remained cynical of Oates throughout
but he could do little to stem the tide
of hysteria, until Oates was rash enough to even denounce leading dignitaries,
including Charles’s own queen.
Charles held off a succession crisis in
the Parliament, gaining the right for his brother to succeed him. It was not a
popular decision due to James’s beliefs, and on Charles’s deathbed the old King
was also to convert to Catholicism.
It’s a thoughtful basic introduction to
one of the most impressive reigns in British history – Charles is a lovable
rogue faced with bias and bigotry who kept the peace in difficult times. The
mistakes of his father would also bring down James 2cd, but Charles 2cd was
able to largely weather the storm to become of our the best kings we ever had.
© Copyright. Arthur Chappell
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