ABSTRACT
Inscrutability was to remain a feature of Charles's make-up for the rest of his life; but, in other respects, he showed every indication of emerging from his political apprenticeship to take on the role of king-in-waiting. This chapter focuses on the first occasion on which the young prince's interventions can be shown to have had a significant impact on national politics. Charles's intervention in the second session of 1621 marked his emergence as a significant figure in the politics of the court. Recent scholarship has tended to draw sharp distinctions between James i and Charles i. Charles commissioned the ceiling from the Flemish artist, Peter Paul Rubens, in 1629, and it was completed around 1635. The qualities summed up in the Whitehall ceiling were described at length by James himself, in his advice book, the Basilicon Doron. Charles's early religious development has long been shrouded in mystery.
