A king on the run

3rd September 1651 saw the last major battle in the wars of the three kingdoms, better known as the English Civil Wars. The Battle of Worcester marked the end of Charles II's attempt to reclaim his father's throne following the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649. The regicide drove the Scots, parliament's former allies to break their alliance and declare the twenty year old prince Charles II King of Scots.

Battle of Worcester 1651

With a Scottish army at his command and the belief that the people would rally to his cause Charles II began his march to London to reclaim the throne. However, Cromwell had anticipated his plan and moved to disarm royalist households while mobilising his own forces. Charles II made a fatal error by deciding to rest his troops in Worcester and wait for reinforcements. They would never come and Charles II was decisively defeated by Cromwell's New Model Army when it arrived a few days later.

The battle claimed the lives of 3000 men and almost 10,000 were taken prison - the prisoners were forced to either fight in Cromwell's army in Ireland or sent to the West Indies as indentured labourers. One man who did escape was the king, he knew that his capture would spell the ultimate death of the royalist cause so with several loyal followers he fled the city. He initially wanted to continue to London but the immediate concern was escaping Cromwell's army who were hunting for him.

Early on 4th September Charles' party arrived at White Ladies in Shropshire where the royalist family the Pendrells disguised Charles, taught him how to talk with a local accent and walk like a labourer. It was here that London was deemed to be too high a risk and their efforts turned to getting the king out of the country. Between 4th and 6th September the king was moved from several houses but progress was slow due to Charles' feet. The king's build was unusual for the time, at 6ft 2in tall the royalist party struggled to find appropriate shoes and Charles' feet were sore and blooded.

On 6th September Charles famously spent the day in an oak tree as parliamentary troops searched the surrounding area. The royalist party needed to get the king to a more secure safe house, Moseley Hall near Wolverhampton was chosen. The house belonged to the Whitgreave family, catholic royalists who were experienced at hiding catholic priests and the house came with a priest hole, perfect should Cromwell's troops come knocking. And they did, but luckily Whitgreave convinced them that he was too weak to be hiding royalists and they left not realising how close they had come to finding the king.

Charles spent two days at Moseley before he left to Bristol accompanied by Jane Lane, sister of royalist colonel John Lane. Jane was chosen because she had a permit allowing herself and a servant to travel outside the county (rare for a royalist). Disguised as Jane's servant they rode for Bristol, hoping to get a ship that would take Charles to France.

The port at Bristol was blockaded and escape was impossible forcing Charles to re-evaluate, he travelled to Trent on the Somerset/Dorset border to the home of another royalist officer. He spent a few weeks here waiting for a ship to be sourced, during which time he had a number of close calls including an almost fatal encounter at an inn when forty soldiers turned up. He was almost recognised but luckily a woman at the inn went into labour which distracted the group and Charles was able to escape.

Eventually, at high financial cost, transport was secured for the fugitive king and on 15th October he sailed to France narrowly avoiding the troops who turned up to arrest the king a few hours later. The fugitive king was now an exiled king, he would not return to England for another nine years when the parliament which had been hunting him now invited him back as king.