Thanks to Charles II’s French mistress, Louise de Kéroualle, rumours started to circulate at court that French astronomer, Sieur de St. Improving navigation at sea was a major challenge for 17th century merchants and their sailors. Charles II and the founding of the Royal Observatory Countesses, singers and, famously, the orange seller turned actress Nell Gwyn graced the royal bed. Peace seemed to unleash the King’s loins and now he would be linked with a long list of women, presumably overlapping. Soon after, a formal alliance with Holland and Sweden was created. Charles sued for peace abroad with the Dutch and signed the Treaty of Breda. The misery of the recent past was perhaps enough to discourage the discontent from rebellion. Just as the City seemed to spring anew from the ashes of the Great Fire of London, science and commerce offered hope of a better future. As well as this the English lost the Second Anglo-Dutch war in 1667. Followed by the Great Fire of London the following year should surely have seen off the King but with guile Charles survived these events. What could speak more strongly of divine displeasure than pestilence and disaster? The Great Plague of London came a mere five years into his rule. Plague, Fire, War and PeaceĪlthough it would be remembered as a time of great scientific advances with Charles’ Royal Society at the forefront, the 1660s were still dominated by superstition. Nevertheless, Charles was to be frustrated constantly by warring factions in Parliament divided along religious lines.īecause Charles had no legitimate children, there was a widespread fear that his Roman Catholic brother James would inherit the throne. Although Charles managed to please no one in this respect he somehow managed to avert open rebellion.
To show favouritism to one side or even tolerance was potentially fatal. Somewhere in the middle lay the established Church of England, itself wracked by similar tensions. The King was personally close to many Catholics and their sympathisers. Puritanical Protestants still had great sway in England and even more so in Scotland. Just as Charles negotiated the conflicts of marriage and mistresses, the nation was an irreconcilable tangle of religious conflicts. Worse, the King insisted on openly carrying on his affair and fathering a second child with Barbara. The couple spoke no common language and the Portuguese Catherine was considered to measure up poorly next to the beauty of the King’s mistress.
The marriage was to be courteous rather than passionate. Her dowry was generous indeed: two million crowns and the cities of Bombay and Tangiers thrown in for good measure.Ĭatherine of Braganza, the Royal Collection Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, was chosen. There was also private tragedy with the death of two of his closest family members.ĭespite having fathered a child by his mistress, Charles was keen to marry. The early years of his reign were marked by a flair for public spectacle, winning over nobility and commoner alike. His brother’s secret marriage to a commoner also added an air of scandal to the crown. Villiers came to symbolise the excess and promiscuity of the Restoration court. The young King’s heart was soon taken by the married beauty Barbara Villiers who Charles would show off publicly. Affairs of the heart: Charles II's mistresses
New regalia was made (the previous crown had been melted down when Charles I was executed) and the coronation took place on 23 April 1661.
He would rule closely with parliament, and returned to popular acclaim. It was decided that Charles' son should return to his rightful role, and become king. However Richard lacked the leadership qualities of his father, and he was quickly resigned. Charles II's coronationĪfter the death of Oliver Cromwell, his son Richard became Lord Protector. But he would need all his guile to manoeuvre and survive the tempestuous times in which he ruled. In the end, the national experiment with republicanism had collapsed and the dour days of Cromwell and the Commonwealth were swept away with festivities and mirth.Ĭharles II was tall, handsome, sharp of mind, impeccably attired and charming. On his thirtieth birthday, he left all that behind and triumphantly returned to London as King. His twenties were spent hopping around continental courts, begging favours and finances. Fight and flight marked these years with the execution of his beloved father shattering his world. King Charles II was however, one of the nation’s most interesting and beguiling rulers.Īs a teen, his golden childhood was ripped away from him by the Civil War. He was certainly mercurial and brilliant, and quite possibly lustful and in the grip of dark and foreign powers.
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