background
Status: 09/09/2022 09:02 a.m
Charles III is the new king. His namesakes Charles I and Charles II ruled in the 17th century. One was beheaded, the other was on the run for years, leaving behind many illegitimate offspring. A review.
When the new King Charles III. was born in the fall of 1948, his name should not be a reference to Kings Charles I or II. The then Crown Princess Elizabeth and her husband Philip simply thought the name was beautiful, as they later said. In fact, the two first kings named Charles had troubled tenures.
Her reigns coincided with the religious conflicts and the English Civil War (1642-1649). Charles I, who took over the crown in 1625 at the age of 24 and pursued a sharply Protestant and at the same time chaotic foreign policy course during the Thirty Years’ War, was convinced of the idea of divine right. He repeatedly disregarded the resolutions of Parliament and its rights.
In doing so, he overestimated his power, despite some warning signs such as the execution of his most important adviser, the Earl of Strafford. Because he did not give in, he was beheaded in January 1649 for high treason. His remains rest at Windsor Castle.
Smarter than the father
The future Charles II was only 18 years old when his father was executed. As the new king, he had to move first to Scotland and then to Normandy before Oliver Cromwell and the proclaimed republic. Only after Cromwell’s death in 1658 was he able to return as king in 1660.
Although he ruled more skilfully than his father, he also assumed that he was in the right of God and dissolved parliament several times. Charles II survived an assassination plot in 1683 and died in 1685 as a result of a stroke. On his deathbed he converted to Catholicism. Although he lacked a legitimate heir to the throne, Charles II officially recognized almost all of his illegitimate children and gave them titles of nobility.
His best-known descendants today are Diana and Camilla – the two wives of Charles III.