Audio from Chalke Valley History Festival 2016. Anna Keay tells the extraordinary story of Charles II’s adored bastard son, James Duke of Monmouth. Handsome, dashing, and both dissolute and daring, his was a tumultuous life, and one that culminated in the last battle fought on English soil and one of the most brutal and botched executions ever witnessed. In this talk, Anna Keay brings both new research and insight into one of the most fascinating characters of the Stuart Age.

In December 1641 Charles I prepared a fight-back against the populists who were using parliament to strip him of his powers. He hoped to gain the upper hand in THIRTY DAYS.  In the New Year of January 1642 the claims made by his enemies that they spoke for the people would be exposed as a lie. They would be tried and executed as traitors, and he would save his crown.

Lauded by his friends, condemned by his enemies, remembered as a failed king, Charles I remains an elusive figure. Highly acclaimed author Leanda de Lisle uncovers a king who was radical, principled and brave, but also fatally blinkered, and who was loyally supported by his beloved wife, Henrietta Maria, a warrior queen and political player as impressive as any Tudor consort.

Myth has an insidious way of working into way into history. Stories that ring true, that appeal to our prejudices, become ‘fact’. Sometimes they are rooted in contemporary propaganda, the old lies giving a veneer of respectability to the new.  But they are also nurtured by attitudes hard-wired into us over centuries.

Why was the queen executed with a sword, rather than an axe?

Click the link below to listen to an interview with Stephen Alford following his talk on the influence of spies and espionage during the reign of Elizabeth I. Interviewer: Xander Drury.