King Charles I - The Queen's House, Greenwich, London, UK
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Master Mariner
N 51° 28.883 W 000° 00.237
30U E 708027 N 5707615
This life-sized marble bust of King Charles I was by the sculptor Hubert Le Sueur and was created in 1631. It is located in the Queen's House in Greenwich Park.
Waymark Code: WMWNPY
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/23/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member iconions
Views: 0

The bust, which is life-size, shows the king in armour, which is richly decorated with a flowing floriated pattern engraved in relief on the armour, on the shoulder-plates and the breastplate, in the centre of which is a grotesque head with protruding tongue. Over the left shoulder there falls a sash across the breast, which is fastened by a large circular brooch on the shoulder. Beneath the sash is seen the small jewel of the Garter, apparently suspended to a ring in the breastplate itself. The gorget, which is separated from the breastplate by a thick braiding, is also engraved with a floriated pattern, and over the gorget on the shoulders is a broad white flat collar. The King's long hair falls in straight curls on his left shoulder. The face has a monumental look, the hair somewhat mechanically treated, the eyes vacant, the moustache brushed up so as to expose the mouth, the lips slightly open, above a small pointed beard.

The BBC website has an article about King Charles I that tells us:

Charles I was king of England, Scotland and Ireland, whose conflicts with parliament led to civil war and his eventual execution.

Charles I was born in Fife on 19 November 1600, the second son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. On the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 James became king of England and Ireland. Charles's popular older brother Henry, whom he adored, died in 1612 leaving Charles as heir, and in 1625 he became king. Three months after his accession he married Henrietta Maria of France. They had a happy marriage and left five surviving children.

Charles's reign began with an unpopular friendship with George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who used his influence against the wishes of other nobility. Buckingham was assassinated in 1628. There was ongoing tension with parliament over money - made worse by the costs of war abroad. In addition, Charles favoured a High Anglican form of worship, and his wife was Catholic - both made many of his subjects suspicious, particularly the Puritans. Charles dissolved parliament three times between 1625 and 1629. In 1629, he dismissed parliament and resolved to rule alone. This forced him to raise revenue by non-parliamentary means which made him increasingly unpopular. At the same time, there was a crackdown on Puritans and Catholics and many emigrated to the American colonies.

Unrest in Scotland - because Charles attempted to force a new prayer book on the country - put an end to his personal rule. He was forced to call parliament to obtain funds to fight the Scots. In November 1641, tensions were raised even further with disagreements over who should command an army to suppress an uprising in Ireland. Charles attempted to have five members of parliament arrested and in August 1642, raised the royal standard at Nottingham. Civil war began.

The Royalists were defeated in 1645-1646 by a combination of parliament's alliance with the Scots and the formation of the New Model Army. In 1646, Charles surrendered to the Scots, who handed him over to parliament. He escaped to the Isle of Wight in 1647 and encouraged discontented Scots to invade. This 'Second Civil War' was over within a year with another royalist defeat by Parliamentarian general Oliver Cromwell. Convinced that there would never be peace while the king lived, a rump of radical MPs, including Cromwell, put him on trial for treason. He was found guilty and executed on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall, London.

URL of the statue: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.
Search for...
Geocaching.com Google Map
Google Maps
MapQuest
Bing Maps
Nearest Waymarks
Nearest Statues of Historic Figures
Nearest Geocaches
Create a scavenger hunt using this waymark as the center point
Recent Visits/Logs:
There are no logs for this waymark yet.