King Charles’ Namesakes - A Brief History

The last King Charles (II) died in 1685, the year when Johann Sebastian Bach was born, and forty-seven years before the birth of George Washington.

King Charles I was executed in 1649 during a civil war that suspended the monarchy. Rebellion leader Oliver Cromwell signed his death warrant. Charles II was coronated following his father’s execution, but Cromwell’s troops defeated the royal forces, and Cromwell ruled England for nine years until his death from disease. Cromwell’s son did not have support in Parliament, so Charles II was restored to the throne.

The elder Cromwell’s body was exhumed, hung in chains, and beheaded in a “posthumous execution.” The head was mounted to a pole and displayed outside of the UK Parliament building for decades before being sold to a private collector.