Charles Ii Quotes

“Before the battle they had been discussing whether there might be life after death, and Windham and Rochester had made a pact that if there was, the first to die would come back and tell the other. But, said Rochester, he [Windham] never did.”
― Jenny Uglow

“An acrimonious dispute between Leslie and Buckingham caused the King to remark to the Lord Talbot somewhat bitterly that although he could not get Leslie's horse to stand by him against the enemy, it seemed that he could not get rid of them now, when he had a mind to it.”
― Georgette Heyer, Royal Escape

“To conclude, if God gives you success, use it humbly and far from revenge. If He restores you upon hard conditions, whatever you promise, keep.


--- Charles I's final letter to his son, Charles,
Prince of Wales, 1649”
― Karen Brooks, The Chocolate Maker's Wife

“The church of England could never become the church of England's Empire. . . The sovereign and his heir [Charles II and James], by policy if not by conviction, were religious tolerationists even more in the empire than in England. In the colonies, the royal brothers were free from the predominance of the church, and they wielded overseas an authority far less fettered than it was in England. The duke and the king therefore ordered their viceroys to tolerate all religions privately practiced and peaceably conducted. Under the later Stuarts, "Greater Britain" became truly tolerant. Great Britain did not. (p193)”
― Stephen Saunders Webb, 1676: The End of American Independence

“And I may confidently say, That God's controversie with the Kings of the Earth; is for their Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government.”
― Robert Douglas, The Form and Order of the Coronation of Charles the Second, King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, as it was acted and done at Schoone, the 1st of January 1651

“To ensure that Catherine would settle into her new role as queen, letters were dispatched, with Charles addressing her as ‘my wife and lady’ and declaring that ‘for me, the signing of the marriage has been great happiness’, as though no thought of backing out in favour of an unspecified voluptuous Italian had ever occurred to him.”
― Sophie Shorland, Queen Catherine's Court: Power and Rebellion in Restoration England

“To put it crassly, Charles II was most interested in his new bride’s money.”
― Sophie Shorland, Queen Catherine's Court: Power and Rebellion in Restoration England