If the British press agrees that Charles III's first steps in his role as monarch are flawless, the question remains on everyone's lips: what kind of king will Charles III be?
Subsidiary question: will he be able to overcome the inglorious fate of his predecessors Charles I and Charles II?
To discover
OUR FILE - Elizabeth II, a rock and a symbol for England
Charles III could have chosen another name, such as George VII, in honor of his grandfather George VI, the one who did not want to be king and who courageously honored the crown during the Second World War.
But Charles remains.
It is up to him to make people forget the first two in power in the 17th century.
One ended his life on the scaffold while the other experienced exile.
Read alsoCharles III challenging the unity of his kingdom
Who was Charles I?
Things started badly for Charles I.
Grandson of Mary Stuart and son of James I, he acceded to the throne in 1625 at the age of 25 and managed the affairs of the kingdom of England, Scotland and Ireland with an iron fist.
Convinced of possessing a power of divine right, the monarch clashed bitterly with Parliament, opposed to the levying of new taxes.
Another oddity: he angers the Church of England by marrying a Catholic, Henriette-Marie of France.
The battle for power escalated and in 1642 provoked a civil war.
Defeated in 1645, Charles refuses to give in to demands for a constitutional monarchy.
He fled, allied himself with Scotland - it was the second civil war - before being taken prisoner again four years later.
He was then tried and sentenced to death for high treason by a special court.
Led to the Palace of Whitehall, Charles I was led to the scaffold on January 30, 1649.
Remarkably, the sovereign wears two shirts at his request.
“
The weather is so brisk that it can probably make me shake, which some observers may attribute to fear.
I will not allow this to be believed
, ”wrote the condemned man before his execution.
The king beheaded, the monarchy is abolished and England becomes a republic led by the soldier and politician Oliver Cromwell.
After the latter's death in 1658, the monarchical regime was restored two years later and it was Charles' eldest son who ascended the throne, under the name of Charles II.
Who was Charles II?
While Londoners dip their handkerchiefs in the blood of the executed king, the future Charles II takes refuge in The Hague after having fought alongside his father.
During his exile in the Spanish Netherlands, he fell in love with duck hunting by boat and invented yachting.
But more serious things await him.
He was proclaimed King of Scotland in January 1651 and again took up arms to counter an invasion by English Republican forces.
Another defeat at the Battle of Worcester, in central England.
But Charles managed to evade capture and went into hiding for six weeks before fleeing to France.
The death of Cromwell in 1658 allows the restoration of the Stuarts: while the kingdom is in crisis, Charles is called upon to return and ascend the throne in 1660. He is then thirty years old.
The new monarch, black curls and mustache, is a popular king who manages to restore a certain balance in his country, despite two deep crises: the Black Death of 1665 and the Great Fire of London a year later.
But distrust set in again with Parliament which voted in 1969 for the Habeas Corpus Act protecting the individual freedom of the English against royal arbitrariness.
Charles II, a libertine king who has many mistresses and illegitimate children, gives no legitimate heir to the kingdom.
He died of a stroke in February 1685 at the age of 54, leaving his brother to succeed him as James II of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland.