As his name suggests, the new King Charles III is the third British monarch to bear this first name.
The sovereign will address the Nation this Friday, for the first time since the death of his mother, Her Majesty Elizabeth II the day before.
Its two predecessors had two extremely different fates.
Charles I
Charles of the Stuart dynasty came to the throne in 1625, ruling over England, Scotland and Ireland.
Convinced of possessing a power of divine right, he reigns authoritatively.
His marriage to a Catholic, Henriette-Marie of France, also earned him enemies.
Parliament constantly sought to restrict its powers, which caused a conflict with the monarchy leading in 1642 to a civil war.
Although he was defeated in 1645, Charles refused to give in to demands for a constitutional monarchy.
He was tried, convicted and executed for high treason in 1649. The monarch was asked to wear two shirts before being taken to the scaffold.
“The weather is so brisk that it can probably make me shake, which some observers may attribute to fear.
I will not let this be believed,” he wrote.
Charles I and Henriette-Marie of France, King and Queen of England, in hunting costumes, by Mytens https://t.co/wYKQWtpvZx pic.twitter.com/hMWCgVcgn8
— Highnesses (@HighnessesEurope) September 7, 2022
After saying a prayer, Charles waved at the executioner, whose identity remains mysterious, and was beheaded.
Some spectators dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood.
The monarchy was abolished and England became a republic led by the soldier and politician Oliver Cromwell.
Karl II
The future Charles II fought alongside his father in the Civil War, but fled England when defeat seemed inevitable.
He settled in The Hague in 1649. Despite the abolition of the monarchy in England after the execution of Charles I, his son was proclaimed king in Scotland in January 1651. Fearing an invasion by English republican forces, Charles and his partisans invaded England, an attack that ended in defeat at the Battle of Worcester in central England.
Read alsoDeath of Elizabeth II: until the end, the queen assumed her duty
Charles managed to evade capture and went into hiding for six weeks before fleeing to France.
But the death of Cromwell in 1658 results in a crisis and Charles is called upon to return and ascend the throne in 1660: it is the restoration of the Stuarts.
The monarch, whom portraits depicted with voluminous black curls and a mustache, endeared himself to his subjects.
This libertine king, who had many mistresses, was "witty and kind, grateful, generous, tolerant and, on the whole, sympathetic", according to historian Antonia Fraser.
King Charles I (reign: 1625-1649), King Charles II (1660-1685) and King Charles III (2022-) pic.twitter.com/KTlTO0eV5A
- What's new in History?
(@qdneh_podcast) September 8, 2022
His reign saw the rise of colonization and trade in India, the East Indies and America.
It had to face two deep crises, the Black Death of 1665 and the Great Fire of London a year later.
Charles had a stroke on February 2, 1685 and died at the age of 54 four days later, despite or because of the treatments he had undergone: bloodletting, purging and cupping.
He was buried in Westminster Abbey on February 14 and his brother succeeded him, becoming James II of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland.