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Charles IIb. 29 May/8 Jun 1630, London |
| Title: | Dei gratia Scotie Anglie Francie et Hibernie Rex, Fidei Defensor, etc. = By the grace of God, King of Scotland, England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. (see note) |
| Term: | 30 Jan/9 Feb 1649 - 4/14 Feb 1652 |
| 30 Jan/9 Feb 1649, succeeded to the throne (proclaimed 5/15 Feb 1649 in Edinburgh, Scotland; the resolution of the Commons of England of 30 Jan/9 Feb 1649 prohibiting the proclamation of a successor to Charles I specifically referred to England and Ireland only, Parliament having no authority over Scotland) | |
| 1/11 Jan 1651, crowned as King of Scots, Scone Abbey, Perthshire, Scotland | |
| 4/14 Feb 1652, the "Tender of Union" is proclaimed under authority of the Commonwealth of England at Mercat Cross, Edinburgh, with royal insignia removed; de iure cessation of royal authority decreed by Ordinance of Union 12/22 Apr 1654 | |
| Term: | 8/18 May 1660 - 6/16 Feb 1685 |
| Chronology: | 8/18 May 1660, publicly proclaimed to have been king since 30 Jan/9 Feb 1649 in Westminster and London [1] (regnal years counted from 30 Jan/9 Feb 1649) |
| 25 May/4 Jun 1660, resumed the exercise of royal authority upon entering the territory of England (entered London 25 May/8 Jun 1660) | |
| 23 Apr/3 May 1661, crowned as King of England, Westminster Abbey | |
| 6/16 Feb 1685, died | |
| Names/titles: | Baptized (27 Jun/7 Jul 1630): Charles; private name: Charles Stuart; Gaelic name: Teàrlach; Duke of Cornwall [29 May/8 Jun 1630 - 30 Jan/9 Feb 1649]; Duke of Rothesay [29 May/8 Jun 1630 - 30 Jan/9 Feb 1649]; Earl of Carrick [29 May/8 Jun 1630 - 30 Jan/9 Feb 1649]; Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester [from c. 1638/1641] |
| Biography: | |
| Second and eldest surviving son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France; was proclaimed king in Scotland (5/15 Feb 1649) and Jersey (16/26 Feb 1649) following the execution of his father sentenced to death by the court appointed by the Commons of England; staying in exile in the Netherlands, he signed the Treaty of Breda (1/11 May 1650) with the Covenanter faction, promising to impose Presbyterianism as national religion; landed at Speymouth, Scotland (23 Jun/3 Jul 1650), relying on the support of the Covenanter army; was defeated by the Parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell at Dunbar (3/13 Sep 1650); crossed the border of England and was proclaimed king 6/16 Aug 1651 near Carlisle; suffered ultimate defeat at Worcester (3/13 Sep 1651) and was forced to flee from England on 15/25 Oct 1651 (surrender of the last Scottish castle still holding out for Charles II was accepted on 26 May/5 Jun 1652, while the Scottish Crown Regalia were smuggled out of the castle and hidden); lived mostly in the Netherlands; during political crisis in the Commonwealth, issued the Declaration of Breda (4/14 Apr 1660), expressing his willingness to settle all disputed issues with the Parliament of England; after the Convention Parliament agreed to restoration, he was publicly proclaimed king (8/18 May 1660); landed at Dover (25 May/4 Jun 1660), reaching London on 29 May/8 Jun 1660; the early years of Charles's reign saw an appalling plague which hit the country in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666; his foreign policy was a wavering balance of alliances with France and the Dutch in turn; the second Dutch war of 1665 proved to be a failure; in 1667, he dismissed his Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Clarendon, who was succeeded by a series of ministerial combinations, the first of which was that of Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington and Lauderdale (whose initials formed the nickname Cabal); assented to the Test Act (1673) which excluded Roman Catholics from both Houses of Parliament; Parliament's reaction to the Popish Plot of 1678 was to impeach Lord Treasurer Danby and to present a bill to exclude Prince James from the succession; in 1680-81 Charles dissolved three Parliaments which had all tried to introduce Exclusion Bills. Biography source: [2][3][4] |
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| Sources and notes: | |
| [1] | After the Convention Parliament reached the decision to recall Charles II, all proceedings involving the use of the Great Seal were to be in the king's name from 5/15 May 1660, and all ministers in the three kingdoms were ordered to pray for "Our Sovereign Lord Charles the Second." Since Charles ceremonially entered London on 29 May/8 Jun 1660, this date was designated by an Act to be a "perpetual anniversary of thanksgiving". Therefore, Charles' 12th regnal year ran from 29 May/8 Jun 1660 to 29 Jan/8 Feb 1661, although the declaration of Breda had been dated "4/14 Apr 1660... in the twelfth year of our reign". |
| [2] | "King Charles II", by Antonia Fraser (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979). |
| [3] | "The Restoration of Charles II 1658-1660", by Godfrey Davis (Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, 1955). |
| [4] | "Personal history of King Charles the Second, from his landing in Scotland, on June 23, 1650, till his escape out of England, October 15, 1651", by Charles Jobson Lyon (Edinburgh: Thomas George Stevenson, 1851). |
| Image: portrait of King Charles II in garter robes by John Michael Wright or studio, c. 1660-1665. | |
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