April 23rd, 1661
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France. After Charles I’s execution at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649.
Interregnum
However, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, with a government led by Oliver Cromwell.
Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
9 Years Exile
Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis after Cromwell’s death in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and Charles was invited to return to Britain.
On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents stating a regnal year did so as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649.
Coronation
King Charles II was crowned in London at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661, becoming the last monarch to make the then traditional procession from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey.
The coronation came just weeks after the deaths of both Charles’s brother Henry and his sister Mary, of smallpox.
Last King Crowned at Scone
Charles was the last King of Scots crowned at Scone, which happened on 1 January 1651.
