The Royal Mail, the government agency responsible for providing a general postal service in Britain, recently issued a new set of stamps commemorating the Stuart monarchs from James I to Queen Anne. Each stamp comes with the date of the reigns of the individual kings and queens in question. But there is one small problem: an organisation with the word Royal in its title seemingly approves of rebellion!
I was hugely amused by a letter in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph from one Edward Windham-Bellord pointing out that the stamp for Charles II gives the date of his reign as 1660-1685. The reign of his royal father and predecessor is rightly given as 1625-1649. So, what happened in between, what happened between 1649 and 1660? After all, this is a question that might very well be put by any perceptive individual who does not have a detailed knowledge of English history. The answer, as I’m sure most of you will know, is that rebellion happened, civil war happened, the republic happened, Oliver Cromwell happened!
Mr Windham-Bellord’s point is one accepted by all good royalists: Charles II may not have been king de facto until 1660 but he was king de jure since 1649, “whatever Cromwell and his henchmen got up to in the interim.” Yes, this is something royals and royalists have always felt strongly about. Last century George V even refused to give his permission when Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, wanted to name one of the new dreadnaughts HMS Oliver Cromwell.
Still, much as I would like to, it’s not really possible to airbrush the old ogre out of our history, not really possible to issue a Charles II stamp dated 1649-1660, or indeed to include a Cromwell stamp within the Stuart gallery. After all this may very well have unleashed a new civil war!
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ReplyDeleteAna, England became a much stronger military force under Oliver Cromwell so I can appreciate Churchill's desire to name a ship after him. To airbrush out bits we do not like is something we ought to leave to other governments, nations and dictatorships. We can celebrate a unique English political evolution which after civil war seems to have forged a more united nation thereafter.
ReplyDeleteActually, Adam, things could become really complicated for a 1649 to 1660 series. There was the Commonwealth from 1649 to 1653, the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell from 1653 to 1658, the Protectorate of Richard Cromwell from 1658 to 1659, and then the Commonwealth again to 1660!
ReplyDeleteNobby, yes, but the country was taxed to death to maintain a standing army, not something that had been part of our national tradition. I do agree, though, on airbrushing.
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ReplyDeleteYou might care to look at the political caricatures of the day, specifically with reference to the 'Rump.' As Ronald Hutton says they give a perfect insight into seventeenth century sanitary arrangements. :-)
ReplyDeleteSo, you know how to symbolise the Rump. :-))
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ReplyDeleteNo, sorry, I don't. You would have to look at contemporary publications.
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ReplyDeleteDoes England have automatic succession?
ReplyDeleteI thought the monarch was not such until parliament accepted them as such and they were, erm, Coronated?
Let's have a stamp for the Blessed Oliver. At least he stood up for this country, as opposed to his Stuart successor who was bribed by the French to betray it!
ReplyDeleteDominic, the principle, long established, is the king is dead, long live the king. Charles was not crowned until 1661 but he was still king before that.
ReplyDeleteWG, oh, how you misunderstand Charles, a cynic and a gambler. Yes, he agreed to the secret Treaty of Dover; yes, he took his cousin's money - but he took not one practical step towards advancing its provisions. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm aware of that principle, I just didnt think it was one of ours.
ReplyDeleteBut then I gave up on royalty when there was still a wittengamut.
I understand. :-)
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