Charles II, disguised and exhausted, was pursued by Parliamentary troops for six weeks, for 600 miles. As Sam Swire walks the Monarch’s Way, he crosses beautiful, remote English landscapes
The Stuarts are back in the news. This winter, two blockbuster shows devoted to Charles I and Charles II are opening. One, at the Royal Academy, reunites Charles I’s extraordinary art collection, sold off by Oliver Cromwell’s government after the king was toppled. The other, at the Queen’s Gallery, looks at the collection of his son, Charles II. Meanwhile, a new book by Charles Spencer looks at Charles II’s flight from Parliamentarian forces in 1651. It was a gruelling, six-week journey through six hundred miles of rural England, as Charles travelled the country, in disguise, in a desperate attempt to get to a port and a boat to the Continent. In recent years, I’ve been following in his footsteps. Charles II’s escape began on 3rd September 1651. As Cromwell’s army pushed his forces back on two fronts, a 21-year-old Charles II realised his hopes of winning the Battle of Worcester...
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