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King Charles II (1660 - 1685)
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Name: King Charles II
Born: May 29, 1630 at St. James Palace
Parents: Charles I and Henrietta Maria
Relation to Elizabeth II: 1st cousin 9 times removed
House of: Stuart
Ascended to the throne: May 29, 1660 aged 30 years
Crowned: April 23, 1661 at Westminster Abbey, and at Scone as King of Scots, 1 January 1651, aged 20
Married: Catherine of Braganza
Children: Three children who died in infancy, and about 17 illegitimate children by at least 8 different mistresses
Died: February 6, 1685 at Whitehall Palace, London, aged 54 years, 8 months, and 10 days
Buried at: Westminster
Reigned for: 24 years, 8 months, and 9 days
Succeeded by: his brother James II
King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1660, when Parliament accepted the restoration of the monarchy after the collapse of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth; son of Charles I. His chief minister Edward Clarendon, who arranged Charles marriage in 1662 with Catherine of Braganza, was replaced in 1667 with the Cabal of advisers. His plans to restore Catholicism in Britain led to war with the Netherlands 1672–74 in support of Louis XIV of France and a break with Parliament, which he dissolved in 1681. He was succeeded by James II.
Charles was born in St James's Palace, London. During the Civil War he lived with his father in Oxford 1642–45, and after the victory of Cromwell's Parliamentary forces he withdrew to France. Accepting the Covenanters' offer to make him king, he landed in Scotland in 1650, and was crowned at Scone on 1 January 1651. An attempt to invade England was ended 3 September by Cromwell's victory at Worcester. Charles escaped, and for nine years he wandered through France, Germany, Flanders, Spain, and Holland until the opening of negotiations by George Monk (1608–1670) in 1660. Charles was a patron of the arts and science. His mistresses included Lady Castlemaine, Nell Gwyn, Lady Portsmouth, and Lucy Walter.
In April Charles issued the Declaration of Breda, promising a general amnesty and freedom of conscience. Parliament accepted the Declaration and he was proclaimed king on 8 May 1660. Charles landed at Dover on 26 May, and entered London three days later. Charles wanted to make himself absolute, and favoured Catholicism for his subjects as most consistent with absolute monarchy. The disasters of the Dutch war furnished an excuse for banishing Clarendon in 1667, and he was replaced by the Cabal of Clifford and Arlington, both secret Catholics, and Buckingham, Ashley (Lord Shaftesbury), and Lauderdale, who had links with the Dissenters. In 1670 Charles signed the Secret Treaty of Dover, the full details of which were known only to Clifford and Arlington, whereby he promised Louis XIV of France he would declare himself a Catholic, re-establish Catholicism in England, and support the French king's projected war against the Dutch; in return Louis was to finance Charles and in the event of resistance to supply him with troops. War with the Netherlands followed in 1672, and at the same time Charles issued the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending all penal laws against Catholics and Dissenters.
In 1673, Parliament forced Charles to withdraw the Indulgence and accept a Test Act excluding all Catholics from office, and in 1674 to end the Dutch war. The Test Act broke up the Cabal, while Shaftesbury, who had learned the truth about the treaty, assumed the leadership of the opposition. Danby, the new chief minister, built up a court party in the Commons by bribery, while subsidies from Louis relieved Charles from dependence on Parliament. In 1678 Titus Oates's announcement of a 'popish plot' released a general panic, which Shaftesbury exploited to introduce his Exclusion Bill, excluding James, Duke of York, from the succession as a Catholic; instead he hoped to substitute Charles's illegitimate son Monmouth. In 1681 Parliament was summoned to Oxford, which had been the Royalist headquarters during the Civil War. The Whigs attended armed, but when Shaftesbury rejected a last compromise, Charles dissolved Parliament and the Whigs fled in terror. Charles now ruled without a parliament, financed by Louis XIV. When the Whigs plotted a revolt, their leaders were executed, while Shaftesbury and Monmouth fled to the Netherlands.
King Charles II's Signature  |  View Movie Trailer
Title: Charles II: The Power & the Passion
Starring: Rufus Sewell as King Charles II
Released: 2003
Production: BBC Films
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Quotes:‘You had better have one King than five hundred’ – King Charles II (speaking to Parliament)
’I always admired virtue - but I could never imitate it’ – King Charles II
’Let not poor Nelly starve’ – King Charles II (request to his brother on his death bed to provide for his mistress Nell Gwyn)
1658 | Death of Oliver Cromwell. He is succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell | 1659 | Richard Cromwell is forced to resign. The Rump Parliament is restored. | 1660 | Charles II returns to England from Holland and is restored to the throne. | 1662 | Act of Uniformity compels Puritans to accept the doctrines of the Church of England or leave the church. | 1664 | England seizes the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, changing its name to New York. | 1665 | Outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. | 1665 | The Great Plague strikes London and over 60,000 die. | 1666 | The Great Fire of London rages for four days and three nights. Two thirds of central London is destroyed and 65,000 are left homeless. | 1667 | The Earl of Clarendon is replaced by a five-man Cabal. | 1667 | Paradise Lost by John Milton published | 1667 | A Dutch fleet sails up the River Medway captures the English flagship The Royal Charles and sinks three other great ships | 1670 | Secret Treaty of Dover, by which Charles agrees to declare himself a Catholic and restore Catholicism in England in return for secret subsidies from Louis XIV of France. | 1671 | Thomas Blood caught stealing the Crown Jewels | 1672 | Outbreak of the Third Dutch War. | 1673 | Test Act keeps Roman Catholics out of political office. | 1674 | Death of John Milton | 1674 | Peace made with the Dutch | 1677 | John Bunyan publishes The Pilgrims Progress. | 1678 | The Popish Plot is fabricated by Titus Oates. He alleges a Catholic plot to murder the King and restore Catholicism. The Government over-reacts, and many Catholic subjects are persecuted. | 1679 | Exclusion Bill attempts to exclude James, Charles’s Catholic brother, from the succession. | 1679 | Habeas Corpus act passed which forbids imprisonment without trial | 1682 | Pennsylvania founded in America by William Penn | 1685 | Charles is received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed. |
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