For his obdurate and reckless governance Charles I (1625-49) faced an equally obdurate and formidable parliament and he lost. The monarchy too lost, yet Charles grasped a martyr’s crown becoming the first saint of the Church of England. His reign may have contributed hugely to the destruction of the monarchy but his conduct during the trial and the dignity he displayed afterwards also helped maintain the prestige of monarchy and contributed to its ultimate restoration.

CHARACTERS

Charles I – King of England, Scotland and Ireland
Henrietta Maria – Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland, wife of Charles
James I & VI – King of England, Scotland and Ireland, father of Charles
Anne of Denmark – Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland, mother of Charles
Prince Henry – elder brother of Charles
Elizabeth – Electress consort of the Palatinate, elder sister of Charles
Prince Charles – son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria, heir apparent

George Villiers – duke of Buckingham
William Laud – Archbishop of Canterbury
Roger Manwaring – anti-Calvinist bishop of St. David’s
Richard Montagu – anti-Calvinist bishop of Chichester
Thomas Wentworth – earl of Stafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Prince Rupert of the Rhine - nephew of Charles, Royalist cavalry commander

Parliamentarians

John Eliot
John Pym
Denzil Holles
William Strode
Arthur Heselrig
John Hampden
John Rolle

William Prynne – prominent Puritan and lawyer

Oliver Cromwell – parliamentarian and military commander
Thomas Fairfax – commander of the New Model Army
Robert Devereux – earl of Essex, chief commander of the Parliamentarian army
John Bradshawe – President of the High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I
John Finch – speaker of the House of Commons (1628-29)
William Lenthall – speaker of the House of Commons (1640-47)
John Felton – army lieutenant and assassin

Francis Bacon – Lord Chancellor

Infanta Maria Anna – suitor for Charles I, daughter of Philip III of Spain
Philip III – King of Spain
Louis XIII – King of France, father of Henrietta Maria
Ferdinand II – Archduke of Further Austria

Peter Paul Rubens – Flemish poet and diplomat

Henry VII – King of England (1485-1509)
Edward III – King of England (1327-77)

John Milton – contemporary poet and civil servant
GM Trevelyan - historian

CREDITS

Juan Baptiste Lully – Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Henry Purcell – The Old Bachelor
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Dan Mitch3ll – Wild Horses
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