IF I were the consigliere of King Charles III, the newly installed King of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, I would have advised him not to take the name Charles for his royal name. He could have used any of his other names given by his parents, the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, which is more illustrious and respected in British history.
And he had ample to choose from for he was christened with four forenames—Charles Philip Arthur George. And it’s not uncommon for the new sovereign to pick a regnal title different from his Christian name. King Charles’s grandfather, King George VI did not pick his Christian name Albert but elected to adopt his fourth forename, George. In fact, many had predicted that Prince Charles of Wales would take the name George once he rules the kingdom out of reverence to his grandfather and his grandmother whom he adores. But it seems that despite his long wait before his ascent to the throne, King Charles III had not given this matter a considerable thought.
But why do many people, particularly the royal watchers, give this seemingly trivial matter of choosing the name Charles a big fuss? Maybe we should go back to history to give some form of clarity to this issue. The first two monarchs named Charles who were father and son had inglorious reigns during their time. King Charles I became King on March 27, 1625 at the age of 25. Charles 1 inherited his father’s (James I) quarrel with the Parliament. And to complicate things, Charles I married a Catholic, which further drove a wedge between him and the Protestant majority. He dissolved the Parliament many times whenever he encountered serious tiff with the Parliament led by Oliver Cromwell. The impasse led to a civil war where the Parliamentary Army of Cromwell defeated the royalists’ force. Charles I was captured and sentenced to die by execution. He faced his death calmly and with dignity and before he was beheaded on January 30 1649, he summoned his son and whispered to him: “Remember.”
And Charles II remembered. He knew that Cromwell was the bitterest nemesis of his father who led the signing of the death warrant against his father. Charles, only 19, continued his father’s war until Cromwell’s army won a decisive victory at Worcester on September 3, 1651. This ended the Civil War and Charles II fled to France.
Oliver Cromwell adopted the title the Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland after he defeated Charles I and his royalist army during the Civil War. He set up a republican commonwealth and simultaneously assumed the title of head of state and head of government. While he ruled the kingdom, he declined to be proclaimed a king. Together with the other anti-royalist leaders, he signed the execution of Charles I. Oliver Cromwell died of sickness at age 59. Richard Cromwell, his son, succeeded him as the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England but he did not have the appetite and the leadership for it. He gave up power in 1659 and Charles II, who was then in exile, was returned as the King. And 10 years was not a long time to bury the bitter past. One of his first acts was to exhume Oliver Cromwell’s body and remove it from Westminster Abbey. He also ordered that Cromwell, although long dead, be beheaded for the crime of regicide. All of Cromwell’s allies like the General of his army and the Chief Justice of England’s Court who were instrumental in the downfall and death of his father were dug from their graves and beheaded. Their heads together with Cromwell’s were placed on spikes and displayed in front of Westminster Hall while their bodies were buried in a common grave.
After his return from exile and restoration as the king, Charles II ruled the United Kingdom and Ireland until his death on February 16, 1685 at the age of 54. He was known as the “Merry Monarch.” He weathered the religious unrest between the Anglicans and the Catholics and the political dissent of the remnants of the pro-Cromwell group. He needed all his charm, wit and flair, which he was generously endowed to survive the turbulent years of his reign. His entire rule was marked by excesses, promiscuity and hedonism. He fathered at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses although he took a wife, Catherine of Braganza, a daughter of the king of Portugal. His wife could not hold a candle to many of his mistresses and Charles II continued his philandering ways. His warring ministers competed for his favors, just like his mistresses, but he managed to stay above the fray and keep his crown. He died peacefully in his bed after converting to Catholicism. He failed to produce a legal heir and his younger brother James, a Catholic, succeeded him to the throne.
King Charles III’s controversies are all behind him now. We hope. He had suffered from intrigues and scandals in the past while he was the Prince of Wales. He had been accused of infidelity while married to the late Princess Diana. Many believe that he was an adulterer. There were rumors of financial scandals involving his favorite charities, extravagance and racism against him. And while some laud his advocacy of many causes, others criticized him for political meddling, which a monarch should avoid. How many of them are true is a matter of conjecture.
At 73, Charles III is the oldest monarch to ascend to the British throne. He had been an understudy since Queen Elizabeth II, his mother, became the Queen in 1952 but this does not guarantee that he would measure up to the expectation of his subjects. Despite all the serious and numerous problems that embroiled her long reign, the late Queen Elizabeth II was well loved and respected by her constituents. Charles III would find the late Queen a tough act to follow. And his regnal name, Charles, may not be of any help to him. Mired in the dark pages of British history, it is not as endearing and inspiring as George, Philip or Arthur.