Charles II of England
Charles II
Charles II in the robes of the Order of the
Garter
King of Scots
Reign
30 January 1649 – 3 September
1651[1]
Predecessor Charles I
Successor
The Covenanters
King of England, Scots, and Ireland (more...)
Reign
29 May 1660[2] – 6 February
1685
Predecessor Charles I (de jure)
Council of State (de facto)
Successor
James VII & II
Spouse
Catherine of Braganza
more illegitimate issue...
Issue
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth
Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Cleveland
Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton
George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland
Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans
Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond
House
House of Stuart
Father
Charles I of England
Mother
Henrietta Maria of France
Born
29 May 1630(1630-05-29)
St. James’s Palace, London
England
Died
6 February 1685 (aged 54)
Whitehall Palace, London
Burial
Westminster Abbey
Charles II (29 May 1630 OS – 6 February
1685) was the King of England, Scotland, and
Ireland.
Charles II’s father King Charles I was ex-
ecuted at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at
the climax of the English Civil War. The Eng-
lish Parliament did not proclaim Charles II
king at this time. Instead they passed a stat-
ute making such a proclamation unlawful.
England entered the period known to history
as the English Interregnum or the English
Commonwealth and the country was a de
facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. Scot-
land, however, was then a separate kingdom
and the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed
Charles II King of Scots on 5 February 1649
in Edinburgh. He was crowned King of Scots
at Scone on 1 January 1651. Following his de-
feat by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester
on 3 September 1651, Charles fled to main-
land Europe and spent the next nine years in
exile in France, the United Provinces and the
Spanish Netherlands.
A political crisis following the death of
Cromwell in 1658 resulted in Charles being
invited to return and assume the throne in
what became known