Royal Survivor: The Life of Charles II - Hardcover

Coote, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031222687X ISBN 13: 9780312226879

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 2000

Synopsis

A biography of the monarch who restored the crown of England challenges the "merry monarch" myth of Charles II, revealing him to be a courageous and complicated manpart gambler, part fixer, part survivorwho led England through the Great fire of London, the Plague, and many other serious problems. Original.

About this title

Review:

The biographer of several prominent English literary figures (including Byron and Keats) turns his attention to a wily politician in this lively portrait of Charles II (1630-85). When he assumed the throne in 1660, Charles had already survived his father's 1649 execution during the English civil war and years of uneasy exile. His restoration had more to do with England's yearning for peace than any desire to reestablish the monarchy's ancient rights, in which Charles fervently believed, and Coote shows the king wielding personal authority and considerable guile to assert prerogatives that his parliament was determined to restrict. Baptized a Catholic on his deathbed, Charles never publicly declared his faith, knowing it would be unacceptable in Protestant England, nor did he let it interfere with his lighthearted affairs. Nonetheless, he was fond of his queen and refused to discard her when she failed to produce an heir. His political maneuvers ensured the peaceful succession of his brother James, who managed in a scant four years to provoke England's bloodless "Glorious Revolution" and the lasting abrogation of royal powers Charles had astutely maintained in trying times. Writing with vigor and color that suit his pleasure-loving subject, Coote limns a man of contradictions in an engaging work of popular biography. --Wendy Smith

About the Author:

Stephen Coote 's previous biographies include John Keats-A Life, A Play of Passion-The Life of Sir Walter Raliegh and W.B. YeatsA Life.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 031222687X
• ISBN 13: 9780312226879
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 396