When was Charles I’s execution, who was his wife Henrietta Maria and what religion was he?
Charles I is the only reigning Monarch in British history to ever be executed
DESPISED by his enemies, revered by his supporters — no monarch has divided the country as starkly and violently as Charles I.
His autocratic rule spurred his subjects and Parliament to support the rebel rhetoric of pious commander Oliver Cromwell who ultimately oversaw his execution.
When was Charles I's execution?
After being captured by Scottish troops who handed him over to Parliament, Charles I was sentenced to be executed by the victors of the English Civil War.
He was taken to Holdenby House in Northamptonshire in January 1647 — but the suspicious New Model Army demanded to take him by threat of force and he was moved into their hands.
Under their guard, he managed to escape from Hampton Court on 11 November and made for the Isle of Wight off the Southern English coast.
The island was governed by Col Robert Hammond, a Parliamentarian whom Charles wrongly believed was sympathetic to him.
Hammond imprisoned Charles and informed Parliament.
But Charles signed a secret treaty with the Scots who promised to invade England and restore his rule if he allowed Presbyterianism to be established in England for three years.
A second war was sparked, as Royalists rose up and the Scots invaded, but both were crushed by the New Model Army.
He desperately tried to continue negotiations with Parliament.
But in December 1648 Cromwell and his close associates at the head of the army effectively staged a coup.
They forced out parliamentarians who fell out of their favour to form what became known as the Rump Parliament.
In January 1649, the Rump House of Commons indicted him on a charge of treason and he was trialled in Westminster Hall.
The court heard Charles has "traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament, and the people therein represented".
He replied: "No earthly power can justly call me (who am your King) in question as a delinquent."
Charles was condemned him to death on 20 January. He was executed the following week on Tuesday 30 January 1649.
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Who was Charles I wife?
Charles was renowned as a devoted family man.
He married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France in 1623 when he was 23 and she was 14.
Son Charles II was reinstalled as king in May 1660 when the monarchy was restored two years after Oliver Cromwell's death.
What religion was Charles I?
Charles was a Protestant, but his marriage to a Roman Catholic and his religious policies generated mistrust among English Puritans like Oliver Cromwell.
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