Disclosure : This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

To Catch A King: Charles II`s Great Escape

How did the most wanted man in the country outwit the greatest manhunt in British history? In January 1649, King Charles I was beheaded in London outside his palace of Whitehall and Britain became a republic. When his eldest son, Charles, returned in 1651 to fight for his throne, he was crushed by the might of Cromwell`s armies at the battle of Worcester. With 3,000 of his supporters lying dead and 10,000 taken prisoner, it seemed as if his dreams of power had been dashed. Surely it was a foregone conclusion that he would now be caught and follow his father to the block? At six foot two inches tall, the prince towered over his contemporaries and with dark skin inherited from his French-Italian mother, he stood out in a crowd. How would he fare on the run with Cromwell`s soldiers on his tail and a vast price on his head? The next six weeks would form the most memorable and dramatic of Charles` life. Pursued relentlessly, Charles ran using disguise, deception and relying on grit, fortitude and good luck. He suffered grievously through weeks when his cause seemed hopeless. He hid in an oak tree – an event so fabled that over 400 English pubs are named Royal Oak in commemoration. Less well-known events include his witnessing a village in wild celebrations at the erroneous news of his killing; the ordeal of a medical student wrongly imprisoned because of his similarity in looks; he disguised himself as a servant and as one half of an eloping couple. Once restored to the throne as Charles II, he told the tale of his escapades to Samuel Pepys, who transcribed it all. In this gripping, action-packed, true adventure story, based on extensive archive material, Charles Spencer, bestselling author of Killers of the King, uses Pepys`s account and many others to retell this epic adventure.

Related Products:

Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I The King`s City: London Under Charles II: A City That Transformed a Nation – And Created Modern Britain The Sale of the Late King`s Goods: Charles I and His Art Collection In Line to the Throne: Prince Charles and the Other 29 in Waiting Civil War London: A Military History of London Under Charles I and Oliver Cromwell Royal Renegades: The Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars The Great Escape: Adventures on the Wild West Coast Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape: Book 1 The King`s Evil The King Never Smiles I`m the King of the Castle Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel Mony Halls` Great Irish Escape King Ottokar`s Sceptre When the Last Lion Roars: The Rise and Fall of the King of Beasts Charles Darwin`s Around-the-World Adventure Inside Pepys` London Grandpa`s Great Escape King Flashypants and the Evil Emperor Charles Dickens Charles Darwin Voyaging The Case of Charles Dexter Ward King Coo The World of Charles Dickens: A Jigsaw Puzzle with 70 Characters to Find Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend Default ThumbnailCharles Dickens on Travel I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria The Beagle with Charles Darwin The Cook and the King The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow The Time Traveller`s Guide to Restoration Britain: Life in the Age of Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton and The Great Fire of London The Cat and the King Charles Rennie Mackintosh Maigret and Monsieur Charles: Inspector Maigret #75 Spain and Portugal in the Reign of Charles III Wall Map Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan The Wise King: A Christian Prince, Muslim Spain, and the Birth of the Renaissance It: film tie-in edition of Stephen King`s IT Kai and the Monkey King Default ThumbnailCharles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women