Coronation of King Charles II

Coronation of King Charles II

Known as “the Merry Monarch,” King Charles II of Great Britain, was born on 29th May 1630.

He was the eldest surviving son of King Charles I, and his wife Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII.

In August 1642, the long-running dispute between his father and Parliament, culminated in the outbreak of the first English Civil War.

By spring 1646, most of the region had been occupied by Parliamentarian forces, and Charles went into exile to avoid capture.

Finally he reached France, where his mother was already living under the protection of his first cousin, the eight-year-old Louis XIV.

During the Second English Civil War in 1648, Charles moved to The Hague.
While there, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married.

Her son, James, was one of Charles’s many illegitimate children who became prominent in British society.

Charles took up with another lady, having another two children with her in quick succession.

Charles had four illegitimate children, before he even returned to England as king!!

Charles II did try to help his children, giving the boys titles and positions in the military, and making sure his daughters married well.

He would go on to sire approximately 14 other children illegitimately – and have none with his wife!

Despite Charles diplomatic efforts to save his father, the exEcution of Charles I took place in January 1649.
England then became a republic.

After the death of Cromwell in 1658, Charles’s initial chances of regaining the Crown seemed slim.

Cromwell was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son, Richard.
However, the new Lord Protector had little experience of either military or civil administration.
In 1659, Parliament was recalled and Richard resigned.

Finally, more than a decade after they’d exEcuted his father, the Parliament invited Charles II to return to England.

They would finally proclaim him king and agreed that he’d rightfully been king since his father’s b-heading.

This effectively erased the previous 11 years from history……

King Charles sailed from his exile in the Netherlands, to his restoration in England in May 1660.

Charles was crowned at Westminster Abbey, on 23rd April 1661.

While Charles II clearly loved his bachelor lifestyle, his subjects expected the king to have a queen by his side.

As a new king, Charles II must be able to proudly present his new queen to his subjects as evidence of his sound decision-making, but there was just one problem.
Catherine of Braganza, the wife he had chosen, was a catholic.

The young couple came up with a plan, they had two marriage ceremonies, a secret Catholic one, and a large Anglican service with many guests.

The court held great celebrations for Charles and Catherine’s wedding, but when the lights came on, the music faded, and the guests departed, he was in for a great big surprise.

Charles II was, after all, a pleasure seeker, whereas Catherine had grown up in a convent.

Not only had her overprotective mother sheltered her, she’d barely even left the palace.

In contrast, Charles had spent his 20s in exile, all over Europe and Britain, bedding every second attractive courtier who he crossed paths with.

Soon enough, he was back to his old ways, forcing Catherine to face the truth of the situation.

Even though his behavior humiliated her, she had no choice but to go along with it, even as it got worse and worse.

Catherine knew why she was in England, and she set about her marital duties soon after the wedding, but then, her worst nightmares became a reality….

Catherine became pregnant, only to miscarry…and then it happened again, and again.

As if being ripped from her home and married off to a carousing husband wasn’t enough, she now had to face the possibility that she wouldn’t conceive an heir.

Around the time of his coronation, Charles II became involved with the beautiful young daughter of a loyalist family, Barbara Palmer.

They began a flaming hot affair that lasted over a decade.
These two couldn’t stay out of the bedroom!

Between 1661 and 1665, Barbara Palmer gave birth to five of Charles II’s children in quick succession, and he acknowledged all of them.

It wasn’t only affairs that caused trouble for Charles II.
In 1665, Charles was faced with a great health crisis~
The Great Plague arrived in London!

With the death toll reaching a peak of 7,000 per week, Charles and his family fled court and went to Salisbury.

Plague cases ebbed over the winter, and Charles returned to London in February 1666.

Later that year, after a long spell of hot and dry weather – on 2nd September 1666 the Great Fire of London started.
The fire began in a bakehouse on Pudding Lane.

Charles and his brother James joined and directed the fire-fighting effort.
After the fire, Charles took an active role in rebuilding the city, gaining the respect of his subjects.

Charles II ensured that the city would have a steady supply of bread, and began to solicit plans to rebuild.

There was another side effect that worked in his favour, however.
The fire had burned down the old, unsanitary housing where so many rats and fleas had lived, and as a result, the plague all but disappeared.

Within a year, Londoners had faced an epidemic and a city-destroying fire in quick succession.

As they rebuilt the city, there was a renewed sense of civic pride, and finally, some gratitude for Charles II.

Charles II went back to doing what he did best: juggling his mistresses.

While he still lavished his chief mistress, Barbara Palmer, with gifts, including a palace, he began to tire of her scandalous behavior, and her grudge against his wife.

All of a sudden, women began jockeying for a place in his affections, and Charles II had no complaints.
After all, why settle for one mistress when you can have three or four?

Charles ended up taking multiple mistresses, all at once!
These included some noblewomen, and some scandalous actresses.
One of them was Moll Davis, the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman who grew up to become an actress and courtesan.

After they had a daughter together, Charles II awarded her with a lifelong pension.
But waiting in the wings, was Nell Gwynne….

Nell became his lover, and they did little to hide it from the public.
They had two children together, but even that wasn’t enough to keep her on top.

When Charles’ sister died, one of her ladies-in-waiting, a beautiful young woman by the name of Louise de Kerouaille, was left without a place in court.

Ever gallant, the king swept in to offer her a position with his wife.

Sorry Nell, meet your new rival…..

Elegant, beautiful, and demure, Louise de Kerouaille was the perfect pick for a king’s mistress, but Nell Gwyn wasn’t quite ready to let go.

For a while, Nell Gwyn and Louise de Kerouaille competed for the King’s attentions.
Luckily, with Charles II’s ample experience as a rake, he had no problem with this situation.

Eventually, the refined de Kerouaille edged the rough Gwyn out.
For one, de Kerouaille was much more kind to the King’s wife than any of his previous mistresses.

Scandals and constant melodrama followed Charles II around like a bad smell, and it was finally taking its toll.

Doubts about his leadership, his soft support for Catholics, as well as his approval for the failed Anglo-Dutch War……
Things were suddenly looking bad for the King.

It had been at least five years since the Queen’s last pregnancy had ended in a miscarriage, and Charles II’s subjects grew worried about the question of an heir.

All of his children were illegitimate, and his brother was Catholic.
The idea of a Catholic king was a huge dealbreaker for them.
To appease people, Charles II sent off his niece Mary, to marry the Protestant William of Orange.

On 2nd February 1685, Charles II began to suffer from an apoplectic fit.
Charles II’s final days were absolutely torturous.

In order to try and cure him, doctors subjected him to a number of primitive, gruesome, and painful treatments – including bloodletting, purging, and cupping.

When Charles II realized that his chances of recovery were slim, he made his peace with those that he could.
He even apologized to his wife for the way that he’d treated her over the years.

Charles asked that his favorite mistresses would be well taken care of.
Then, at the age of 54, he passed away.

The tragedy and the mystery only deepened from there…..

Charles II was a deeply guarded man, despite the court rumors that followed him.
Much of his life was a mystery for centuries, until a private diary revealed all his darkest secrets.

The diary belonged to Samuel Pepys, who was a Member of Parliament under Charles.

It contained dramatic personal accounts of catastrophes, like the Great Fire of London and the Plague, but the juiciest bits all had to do with the shocking private life, that Charles II lived behind closed doors……

👑 Charles II, c1676 by John Michael Wright.
Royal Collection Trust.