Year 11 students, including our international students, enjoy learning about one of England’s most famous and best loved monarchs, Charles II. However, was Charles’ image of the “merry monarch”, the pleasure-loving king with his many mistresses and his love of the theatre and the races, the whole story?

Charles II was a complicated personality, fun loving but also shrewd and cynical. His image was often carefully calculated to project a positive image of the king and the monarchy in the era of the Restoration, to overcome negative memories of the Civil War and Interregnum.

Victoria Harrington, Teacher of History