ABSTRACT
For most of the time the crown sat on Charles’s head, and his head rested on his shoulders as securely as ever, the decision to depose and execute him being taken but a couple of months before his death. Like the hero of a classic tragedy, whose fatal flaw produced his dénouement, from suffering he learnt much wisdom until by the end ripeness was all. His letters revealed a more likeable man, the prisoner who treated laundresses or cooks’ wives with a kindness and concern that as king he rarely showed to lords or their ladies. The Earl of Callander led a party of neutrals, who were not as significant as those in England, while Hamilton headed a bevy of moderate royalist aristocrats. Charles convinced himself that he could pursue what might otherwise be considered a dishonourable and contradictory policy since his own motives were so good and those of his enemies so bad.
