***The Once And Future King-The Charles II Story

Book Review

Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration, Antonia Fraser, Delta Books, 1979    

A number of  social and political observers, both academics like the old time sociologist of revolution Crane Brinton and activists like Leon Trotsky have noted that in the long cycle of great revolutions one of their defining characters is that the old regime, the old way, never really comes all the way back during the period of reaction. That was certainly the case in the English Revolution of the 17^th century and the story here, the biography of Charles II by Antonia Fraser, throughout it four hundred plus pages demonstrates that idea in the person of the king restored to power after the revolution had run out of steam.      

Ms. Fraser who has also written a biography of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell and other 17^th century leaders, and so knows the period well, traces Charles II life from the early years when he was under his father’s tutelage, through his education to be a king, and then on to the historically important battles which formed the Civil War period during the 1640s when he fought to defeat the parliamentary armies as a military commander. She also details his place in the period of defeat for the monarchy, from the trial and execution of his father, Charles I, and Charles II’s subsequent attempts to defeat the Cromwell-led forces in Scotland and elsewhere militarily. That defeat which led to his famous escape and exile highlight the low period of his life.    

The most serious, and compelling, part of the biography for the purposes of that above stated thesis about the old regime not returning in exactly the way, starts with Charles II return, his summons really, by Parliament soon after Cromwell’s death and a time when the revolution had run out of  steam. The rest of the book essentially details the struggle between Parliament and king over the extent of his prerogative on issues from the king ‘s expenses, payments for his war policy, the question suppression of religious dissent, foreign relations especially with France and Holland,, and critically toward the end of his regime the questions of succession of the Stuart line against the strong Parliamentary position that there must be a Protestant succession ( his brother who would become king, James II, was a professed Catholic). The key here to understand is that while the king had certain powers he had to assent to various parliamentary maneuvers more so that under his grandfather and father’s regimes although there was a period when he ruled without Parliament at the end in the 1680s. She also cites the various anti-Popish plots, intrigues, and false moves around those times including the famous Rye House Plot that came very near to success.     

Ms. Fraser also, as she must since he was decidedly a womanizer, details Charles II love affairs that also had political consequences once it was established that his wife, Queen Catherine, would not produce a legitimate heir. He nevertheless had many children by his wide assortment of mistresses including the most famous bastard, his son the Duke of Monmouth, who had pretensions to be king and acted on that premise when egged on by those forces, mainly opposition Whigs, who did not want to see James succeed Charles.       

Finally Ms. Fraser spends a fair amount of time on Charles II various interests, including sports, the races, creating new palaces and parks, taking walks, and making and encouraging scientific experiments among his various kingly duties. She presents Charles, warts and all, as a charismatic positive character especially after the turmoil of the 1640s and 50s and the fitful start of plebeian republican movements under Cromwell and other Parliamentary defenders.