Charles II (1630–1685)

King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1660, when Parliament accepted the restoration of the monarchy after the collapse of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. He was the son of Charles I. His chief minister Edward Clarendon, who arranged Charles's marriage in 1662 to Catherine of Braganza, was replaced in 1667 with the Cabal of advisers. His plans to restore Catholicism in Britain led to war with the Netherlands (1672–74) in support of Louis XIV of France and a break with Parliament, which he dissolved in 1681. He was succeeded by James II.

Civil War
Charles was born in St James's Palace, London. During the Civil War he lived with his father in Oxford (1642–45), and after the victory of Cromwell's Parliamentary forces he withdrew to France. Accepting the Covenanters' offer to make him king, he landed in Scotland in 1650, and was crowned at Scone on 1 January 1651. An attempt to invade England was ended on 3 September by Cromwell's victory at Worcester. Charles escaped, and for nine years he wandered through France, Germany, Flanders, Spain, and Holland until the opening of negotiations by George Monck (1608–1670) in 1660.

Monarchy restored
In April 1660 Charles issued the Declaration of Breda, promising a general amnesty and freedom of conscience. Parliament accepted the Declaration and he was proclaimed king on 8 May 1660. Charles landed at Dover on 25 May, and entered London four days later.

The issue of Catholicism
Charles wanted to make himself absolute, and favoured Catholicism for his subjects as most consistent with absolute monarchy. The disasters of the Dutch war furnished an excuse for banishing Clarendon in 1667, and he was replaced by the Cabal of Clifford and Arlington, both secret Catholics, and Buckingham, Ashley (Lord Shaftesbury), and Lauderdale, who had links with the Dissenters.

In 1670 Charles signed the Secret Treaty of Dover, the full details of which were known only to Clifford and Arlington, whereby he promised Louis XIV of France he would declare himself a Catholic, re‐establish Catholicism in England, and support the French king's projected war against the Dutch; in return Louis was to finance Charles and in the event of resistance to supply him with troops. War with the Netherlands followed in 1672, and at the same time Charles issued the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending all penal laws against Catholics and Dissenters.

Opposition from Parliament
In 1673 Parliament forced Charles to withdraw the Indulgence and accept a Test Act excluding all Catholics from office, and in 1674 to end the Dutch war. The Test Act broke up the Cabal, while Shaftesbury, who had learned the truth about the treaty, assumed the leadership of the opposition. Danby, the new chief minister, built up a court party in the Commons by bribery, while subsidies from Louis relieved Charles from dependence on Parliament. In 1678 Titus Oates's announcement of a ‘popish plot’ released a general panic, which Shaftesbury exploited to introduce his Exclusion Bill, excluding James, Duke of York, from the succession as a Catholic; instead he hoped to substitute Charles's illegitimate son Monmouth.

Dissolution of Parliament
In 1681 Parliament was summoned to Oxford, which had been the Royalist headquarters during the Civil War. The Whigs attended armed, but when Shaftesbury rejected a last compromise, Charles dissolved Parliament and the Whigs fled in terror. Charles now ruled without a parliament, financed by Louis XIV. When the Whigs plotted a revolt, their leaders were executed, while Shaftesbury and Monmouth fled to the Netherlands.

Charles was a patron of the arts and science. His mistresses included Lady Castlemaine, Nell Gwyn, Lady Portsmouth, and Lucy Walter.