The Last Days of Charles I

Charles I, King of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, was the only monarch of England ever to be tried in public by his own people. Other kings and queens, including Charles' grandmother, Mary, Queen of Scots, had died violently at the hands of others, but this deliberate execution shocked most of Britain and Europe.
This new book, written to mark the 350th anniversary of the king's death, recounts in detail the events leading to that fateful day, from the king's tribulations in the months before the trial, through the trial itself to the gruesome course and aftermath of the execution. It considers the aims and motives of his powerful enemies, men who were as certain in their own convictions as the king was in his. It explores the mysterious identities of the heavily disguised headsman and his assistant. It questions why the king had to die - a question still asked - and outlines what later became of those who shared responsibility for his death.