Charles I of England ascends the throne, March 27 1625

Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. His lack of compromise with Parliament led to the English Civil Wars, his execution, and eventually the abolition of the monarchy.

Early Life

Charles was born on 19 November 1600 in Scotland. He was the second son of James I of England and VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. After his elder brother Henry died in 1612, Charles became the heir to the throne. As a child, Charles was educated by private tutors and received a strict Protestant upbringing. In 1624 it was arranged for Charles to marry Henrietta Maria, the young sister of Louis XIII of France. The couple had nine children, the two eldest sons being Charles and James, who would later become kings.

When James I died of illness on March 27 1625, Charles inherited the throne and became king of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. That his reign was ill-fated was already hinted on the day of his coronation, the 2^nd February 1626, as three odd occurrences took place during the ceremony:  the dove on his royal sceptre snapped off, the gem in his coronation ring fell out, and there was an earthquake.

Early Reign

Charles I's reign was marked by a series of conflicts with the Parliament over the issue of royal power and the rights of the people. In this sense, he believed in the divine right of kings, which held that the monarch's power came directly from God and was absolute. This put him at odds with many members of Parliament, who stood for the principle of parliamentary sovereignty.

The main issue that divided Charles and the Parliament was taxation. The king wanted to raise taxes without the consent of the Parliament and constantly dismissed and recalled this institution. He even tried to bypass it by acquiring money by private means. Still, his difficulties to find sufficient funds forced him to make concessions, such as the Petition of Right (1628). However, in 1629 Charles suddenly decided to dissolve the Parliament.

The English Civil Wars

During the following years, everything indicated that the king did not need the Parliament to rule, as he managed to improve the economic situation of the country and reduce corruption. Nevertheless, his policies against religious freedom upset Scottish church leaders and led to the Bishops’ Wars in 1637.

After realizing that he was unable to raise an army which would be able to defeat the Scots without the help of the Parliament, Charles decided to concede to their demands. Soon afterwards, he recalled the Parliament. However, the king kept ignoring his promises to the institution and the tension grew, resulting in a series of conflicts called the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which also involved Scotland and Ireland.

In 1641, Irish Catholics launched a rebellion and managed to hold most of Ireland against the Royalists, Parliamentarians and Covenanters. Although all three agreed on the need to put the conflict to an end, none trusted the other two with control of an army raised to do so. In 1642, failure to solve the political situation led to the First English Civil War, which pitted Royalists against Parliamentarians and their Covenanter allies in England and Wales. The war in England ended when Charles surrendered to the Scots in 1646, but divisions among his opponents and his refusal to make concessions resulted in the Second English Civil War in 1648. Once again, Parliamentarians defeated the Royalists. The Parliamentarian New Model Army led by commander Oliver Cromwell then got rid of those members of the Parliament who wanted to continue negotiations with the king. As a result, Charles was put on trial in 1649 and sentenced to death. On January 30^th 1649, the king was beheaded. He was forbidden a state funeral and was quietly buried in Windsor Castle.

His Legacy

Charles's execution was a shocking and unprecedented event in English history and was followed by a period of political and social upheaval. The monarchy was abolished, and England became a republic known as the Commonwealth of England governed by Cromwell. Under his rule, the Commonwealth conquered Ireland and most Irish Catholic lands were seized.  However, the republic was short-lived, and in 1660, the monarchy was restored with the ascension of Charles's son, Charles II.

Charles I's reign had profound implications for the development of democracy and constitutionalism in England. His insistence on the divine right of kings and his attempt to rule without the consent of the Parliament contributed to the development of the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, which remains a cornerstone of British constitutional law to this day.