Charles II

Hardback | 252 pp.

A re-typeset premium edition of Belloc's classic text

In an unstable, changing nation, capsized by rebellion, monarchy was still the very stuff of England.

When the doomed Republic (with its taxation, theft, and tyranny) broke down, the exiled son of the murdered king mounted his life's mission – restoration of the Crown.

A great helmsman of the state, and beloved of the people, Charles II weathered a tempestuous course with genius, but made fatal acts of compromise to achieve his improbable task.

By the time that he dropped anchor in the harbour of real kingship it seemed that he had won, and England with him – but would it last?

Master historian Hilaire Belloc paints a portrait of the sanguine, subtle, dextrous king who toppled the squires and merchants to reclaim the national monarchy, but who in weakening what he tried to save, and striking on a sunken reef, left his successor facing shipwreck.