Charles II

Also known as: Charles / Charles II. / Charles Stuart / Charles of England / Charles the King / King Charles / King Charles II / Prince of Wales / his majesty Charles II / king of England / king of Great Britain / the English prince / the king / the king of England / the king of Great Britain / the young king · Family: English royal family · Role: king of England, Scotland, and Ireland · First appears: Chapter 9

In 1650, Charles II revealed himself to Louis XIV as king of England, Scotland, and Ireland, after being crowned at Scone during Cromwell’s expedition into Ireland. He sought Louis XIV’s assistance in money or men to recover his throne, and Louis XIV promised to seek Mazarin’s support, but on 3 September 1651 Cromwell defeated him at Worcester and forced him to flee. “On the 3rd of September, 1651, sire, the anniversary of the other battle of Dunbar, so fatal to the Scots, I was conquered.”

During his exile, Charles again appealed to Louis XIV, who welcomed him as a brother and cousin but refused his request for a million. Mazarin also invoked the treaty forbidding France to shelter him, while Charles declined Louis XIV’s offer of residence and went to seek a miracle from God. Athos offered gold and jewels, agreed to recover the million buried by Charles I at Newcastle, and became Charles’s friend and later a second father; Parry remained his faithful servant. Charles lived at Scheveningen, where D’Artagnan brought him the captured Monk, whom Charles freed despite his refusal to recognize him as king, and Charles called D’Artagnan an unknown friend to whom he would always be grateful.

In 1660, Charles returned to England and entered Dover with royal pomp. Monk, once his enemy, met him, restored him to the throne of Great Britain, and became his Duke of Albemarle, commander of the land and sea forces, and viceroy of Ireland and Scotland. Charles rewarded Athos with the Golden Fleece, offered D’Artagnan a position near his person, ordered payment for Monk’s sword, and later sent Athos as ambassador to Louis XIV. Restored to his throne, he demanded an alliance between Philip, Duc d’Anjou and his sister Henrietta Stuart; D’Artagnan was remembered as having helped recover his kingdom, and Charles treated him as a friend and as one to whom he was under an obligation.