🎧 TO CATCH A KING: CHARLES II’S GREAT ESCAPE

Audio from Chalke Valley History Festival 2018.
In 1651 the Royalist forces were crushed by the might of Cromwell’s armies at the Battle of Worcester. For the next six weeks the future Charles II was hunted by his father’s killers, who now wanted him dead too. Using Samuel Pepys’ original account, Charles Spencer brings to life the thrilling story of one of the greatest escapes in British history.

Charles Spencer obtained his degree in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was a reporter on NBC’s Today Show from 1986 until 1995, and is the author of several books, including Sunday Times bestseller Blenheim: Battle for Europe (shortlisted for History Book of the Year at the 2005 National Book Awards), Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier, Killers of the King and To Catch a King: Charles II’s Great Escape.

He will be speaking about Prince Rupert of the Rhine on Thursday 27th June – tickets are available here.

Related Contents

🎬 5 Minutes With… Charles Spencer

Guy Walters chats with Charles Spencer about the festival and a talk he put together especially for our history festival about Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

THE LAST CAVALIER: PRINCE RUPERT OF THE RHINE

When I remembered that 2019 marked the 400th anniversary of the birth of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, I immediately thought that this was something I wanted to mark: I spoke to Jane Pleydell-Bouverie, Festival Director of Chalke Valley, and we agreed that I should put together a talk on him for the CVHF audience that I know - from recent talks I’ve given there, on Charles I and then (last year) on Charles II - loves the English Civil War.

🎧 THE LAST ROYAL REBEL: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JAMES, DUKE OF MONMOUTH

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.