The Civil War, Charles’s Defeat and Imprisonment
In the record of British history, few events stand as shocking or as transformative as the trial and execution of King Charles I. A monarch ordained by the divine right of kings, Charles was a figure draped in the trappings of absolute authority, yet he was deposed, tried for treason, and publicly beheaded by his own subjects. This dramatic reversal of fortune did not occur in isolation; it was the climax of decades of tension, war, and ideological struggle that reshaped the monarchy, Parliament, and the British state itself.
This is the story of how Charles I was arrested, imprisoned, and executed, the charges of treason brought against him, and what became of his children after his fall.
A Crisis: A Kingdom Divided
Charles I ascended the throne in 1625, following the death of his father, King James I. Unlike his more politically adept father, Charles held an unwavering belief in the divine right of kings, the idea that monarchs were appointed by God and answerable to no one but Him. This belief set Charles on a collision course with Parliament, whose members increasingly insisted on their right to influence taxation, legislation, and governance.
Tensions simmered for years. Charles’s attempts to rule without Parliament during the so-called Eleven Years’ Tyranny (1629–1640) bred resentment, especially as he levied unpopular taxes like Ship Money without parliamentary consent. His marriage to a Catholic French princess, Henrietta Maria, fueled fears of a return to Catholicism in a Protestant England. Religious tensions further escalated with Charles’s support of Anglicanism and attempts to impose the English Prayer Book on Presbyterian Scotland.
By 1642, these tensions exploded into armed conflict, the English Civil War.
The war pitted the Royalists (Cavaliers), those loyal to Charles, against the Parliamentarians (Roundheads). What began as a constitutional struggle quickly became an existential battle for control of England. The war raged from 1642 to 1646, and again from 1648 to 1649.
In the first phase of the war, Charles’s forces were gradually defeated by the more disciplined and ideologically motivated New Model Army, led by generals like Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. By 1646, Charles was on the run, his kingdom crumbling around him.
Rather than surrender to Parliament, Charles made a desperate gamble. He sought refuge with the Scots, hoping to use them as leverage to negotiate a return to power.
The Arrest and Initial Imprisonment
Charles surrendered to the Scottish army in May 1646, expecting better treatment from fellow monarchists. However, the Scots were pragmatic. After months of negotiation and frustrated by Charles’s intransigence, they handed him over to the English Parliament in January 1647, in exchange for £100,000 in unpaid wages and the promise of religious reform.
Thus began Charles I’s formal imprisonment. He was confined first in Holdenby House in Northamptonshire. Even in captivity, Charles sought to play his enemies off each other, negotiating separately with Parliament, the Scots, and the army.
In 1647, he was forcibly taken by the army and imprisoned at Hampton Court Palace. Yet still, Charles remained obstinate, unwilling to compromise on his divine right or the structure of the Church of England.
Later, he was moved to Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight. There, Charles continued secret negotiations with the Scots, promising to establish Presbyterianism in England in return for their military support. This sparked the Second Civil War (1648).
The Second Civil War and the Road to Regicide
The Second Civil War proved disastrous for Charles. Royalist uprisings and a Scottish invasion were all swiftly crushed by Cromwell and the New Model Army. The attempt to reignite his cause backfired, strengthening the position of the radicals within the army who now saw Charles as a “man of blood”, a tyrant guilty of war against his own people.
The army, growing increasingly political, concluded that there could be no peace while Charles lived.
In December 1648, the army launched Pride’s Purge, forcibly removing moderate members of Parliament who favored negotiation. What remained, the Rump Parliament, voted to place the king on trial.
The Trial of Charles I
Charles I was brought to trial in January 1649 at the Palace of Westminster, before a specially convened High Court of Justice, an unprecedented and controversial move. No English king had ever been tried by his own people.
The charge was treason against the realm of England. The indictment read:
“That the said Charles Stuart… for accomplishment of such his designs, and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in his wicked practices to the same ends, hath traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament and the people therein represented.”
Charles, ever the absolutist, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the court.
“A subject may not lawfully be a judge over his king,” he declared.
But the trial continued without his cooperation. Witnesses testified to the king’s role in the wars. The outcome was inevitable. On January 27, 1649, Charles I was found guilty and sentenced to death.
The Execution of Charles I
On the morning of January 30, 1649, King Charles I was led to a scaffold erected outside Banqueting House in Whitehall, London. He wore two shirts, fearing that if he shivered from cold, the crowd might think it was fear.
Before laying his head on the block, he gave a final speech, asserting his innocence and reiterating his belief in divine right:
“A subject is not bound to give an account of his actions but to God… I die a Christian according to the profession of the Church of England.”
He then lay down, stretched out his arms as a signal, and was beheaded with a single stroke.
A gasp went through the crowd. England had executed its king.
England Without a King
Following the regicide, England was declared a Commonwealth, a republic led first by Parliament, and later by Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. The monarchy was abolished, the House of Lords disbanded, and royal symbols destroyed.
For the first time, England was governed not by a king, but by its own people, or so the revolutionaries claimed.
Yet the death of Charles I sent shockwaves throughout Europe. Royal families condemned the act as sacrilege. In England, too, many were uneasy. The question of who held ultimate power, king or people, would haunt the nation for generations.
How Did Charles I Commit Treason?
The notion that a king could commit treason was radical. Traditionally, treason meant crimes against the monarch. But in 1649, Parliament and the army redefined sovereignty: it now resided with the people, represented by Parliament.
Thus, when Charles waged war against Parliament, twice, they argued he had committed treason against his own subjects. This reversal of roles was revolutionary. In effect, Charles was executed for betraying the very authority he claimed to embody.
What Happened to Charles I’s Children?
Charles I had nine children, but only six survived into adulthood. Their fates varied widely in the aftermath of their father’s execution.
1. Charles II (1630–1685)
The eldest surviving son, Charles II, fled to France and later led Royalist forces during the Battle of Worcester (1651), where he was defeated by Cromwell. He spent years in exile, moving between France, the Netherlands, and Spain.
In 1660, after Cromwell’s death and the collapse of the Commonwealth, Charles II was invited back to England in the Restoration of the Monarchy. He became king and ruled until his death in 1685.
2. James II (1633–1701)
James, Duke of York, also went into exile with his brother. He returned with Charles in 1660 and later succeeded him as King James II. However, his overt Catholicism led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when he was deposed in favor of his Protestant daughter Mary II and her husband William of Orange.
3. Mary, Princess Royal (1631–1660)
Mary married William II of Orange, and their son would become William III of England. She died young but played a crucial role in securing Protestant alliances on the continent.
4. Elizabeth Stuart (1635–1650)
Princess Elizabeth was imprisoned during the Commonwealth. She died at age 14 while in custody at Carisbrooke Castle, possibly from pneumonia. Her death was seen as a tragic symbol of royal suffering.
5. Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1640–1660)
Henry was also imprisoned but later released. He joined his brother Charles II in exile and returned to England after the Restoration. He died of smallpox in 1660, the same year the monarchy was restored.
6. Henrietta Anne (1644–1670)
Born during the Civil War, Henrietta escaped with her mother to France as an infant. She grew up at the French court and later married Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, brother to Louis XIV of France. She played an important diplomatic role in maintaining relations between France and England.
Legacy of Charles I
Charles I’s execution marked a seismic shift in English governance. Though the monarchy would eventually return, the notion that a king could be held accountable by his subjects changed the political landscape forever. His trial planted the seeds of constitutional monarchy and representative government.
To Royalists, Charles became a martyr, commemorated by the Church of England as a saint on January 30th each year. To republicans, his death was a victory for liberty and the rule of law.
In the end, Charles I died clinging to a world that was slipping away, one where kings ruled by divine right, unchecked and unchallenged. His refusal to compromise cost him his throne, his freedom, and his life. But in death, he reshaped a nation, forcing it to grapple with the meaning of sovereignty, authority, and justice.
