Friday 25 May 1660

By the morning we were come close to the land, and every body made ready to get on shore.

The King and the two Dukes did eat their breakfast before they went, and there being set some ship’s diet before them, only to show them the manner of the ship’s diet, they eat of nothing else but pease and pork, and boiled beef.

I had Mr. Darcy in my cabin and Dr. Clerke, who eat with me, told me how the King had given 50l. to Mr. Sheply for my Lord’s servants, and 500l. among the officers and common men of the ship. I spoke with the Duke of York about business, who called me Pepys by name, and upon my desire did promise me his future favour.

Great expectation of the King’s making some Knights, but there was none. About noon (though the brigantine that Beale made was there ready to carry him) yet he would go in my Lord’s barge with the two Dukes. Our Captain steered, and my Lord went along bare with him. I went, and Mr. Mansell, and one of the King’s footmen, with a dog that the King loved,1 (which [dirted] the boat, which made us laugh, and me think that a King and all that belong to him are but just as others are), in a boat by ourselves, and so got on shore when the King did, who was received by General Monk with all imaginable love and respect at his entrance upon the land of Dover. Infinite the crowd of people and the horsemen, citizens, and noblemen of all sorts.

The Mayor of the town came and gave him his white staff, the badge of his place, which the King did give him again. The Mayor also presented him from the town a very rich Bible, which he took and said it was the thing that he loved above all things in the world.

A canopy was provided for him to stand under, which he did, and talked awhile with General Monk and others, and so into a stately coach there set for him, and so away through the town towards Canterbury, without making any stay at Dover.

The shouting and joy expressed by all is past imagination. Seeing that my Lord did not stir out of his barge, I got into a boat, and so into his barge, whither Mr. John Crew stepped, and spoke a word or two to my Lord, and so returned, we back to the ship, and going did see a man almost drowned that fell out of his boat into the sea, but with much ado was got out.

My Lord almost transported with joy that he had done all this without any the least blur or obstruction in the world, that could give an offence to any, and with the great honour he thought it would be to him.

Being overtook by the brigantine, my Lord and we went out of our barge into it, and so went on board with Sir W. Batten, and the Vice and Rear-Admirals.

At night my Lord supped and Mr. Thomas Crew with Captain Stoakes, I supped with the Captain, who told me what the King had given us. My Lord returned late, and at his coming did give me order to cause the marke to be gilded, and a Crown and C. R. to be made at the head of the coach table, where the King to-day with his own hand did mark his height, which accordingly I caused the painter to do, and is now done as is to be seen.

42 Annotations

First Reading

Mary  •  Link

My Lord almost transported with joy

This is the first truly personal glimpse that we have had of Mountagu, whose presentation is normally very deferential and leads the reader to assume that he is much older and more 'mature' than Sam. It reminds us that there is very little age difference between Sam and his master; there is a matter of only 7 or 8 years between them.

j a gioia  •  Link

the king's dog

pope's lines for the collar of the king's spaniel were written some years hence, but no less apt:

I am his majesty's dog at kew.
prey tell me sir, whose dog are you?

helena murphy  •  Link

The accessible personality of the Duke of York as presented here is due to the fact that while in exile he led an independent life, serving as a colonel in the French army under Marshal Turenne. He resigned when France and the Protectorate signed a defensive alliance and went to the Spanish Netherlands where Charles had signed a treaty with Philip IV of Spain against France.

David Quidnunc  •  Link

Well of course he loved dogs

Charles's dogs would've been just about the only creatures whose affection for him had nothing to do with his position as King, even in exile. Perhaps his immediate family gave him that, perhaps not. Dogs are very hierarchical and in a sense, every master of a dog is a king with a courtier. But when this courtier asks a favor, no guile is involved and the love is genuine.

Charles, when king, is said to have been remarkably cynical about the people around him -- knowing that many with their hands out had no sincerity about them whatever, yet passing out the favors anyway.

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog," Harry Truman is supposed to have said. (Well, he SHOULD have said it -- it sounds like Truman and has been attributed to him, although you won't find it in Bartlett's, Oxford or the MacMillan quote books.) I bet Charles appreciated the dog's defecating as much as the others did -- if not this day, then on others.

David Quidnunc  •  Link

Spoiler: Pepys died on 26 May 1703

So you may want to raise a glass of sack to salute the memory of our departed diarist on the 26th of May. He died at 3:45 a.m. according to this site: http://astext.com/history/4_1.html

Or, if you prefer to mourn his passing on the actual, 300th anniversary, you could wait until 6 June. (If that confuses you, see the calendar page: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… ) There's a precedent for changing the date: Most Americans favored the new style date for celebrating George Washington's birthday, even when he was alive.

Pepys "was buried in St. Olave's [Church] on 5th June at 9 p.m. as requested." according to
http://www.london-footprints.co.u…
St. Olave's is having a memorial service on Wednesday, 28 May, 5:30 p.m., according to the same web site.

David Quidnunc  •  Link

The vulgar word Pepys actually used

"a dog . . . which [dirted] the boat"

Yes, that's been bowdlerized. The Latham and Matthews edition has: "which shit in the boat."

helena murphy  •  Link

The following is a more emotive and animated eye witness account of the landing at Dover. " The King, at his first landing, kneeled down and gave God thanks, then coming to General Monk,, who was kneeling upon his knees, he took him up, embraced and kissed him with the title of "father". The Duke of York kissed him several times. The Duke of Gloucester,whilst all the rest were shouting "God save the King!" he threw up his hat and cried "God bless General Monk!"...The King was in a plain-stuff suit, with a plume of red feathers, the Duke of York with a white one, the Duke of Gloucester green"

Scott, Eva The Travels Of The King Constable 1907

A propos of dogs, the Duke of York also loved and trusted them more than men ,and took them on board with him. During the Anglo-Dutch War ,when his ship was ablaze ,he yelled out orders to "save the dogs and Colonel Churchill!"

David A. Smith  •  Link

"Who called me Pepys by name."
This post has a marvelous pinch-me-I'm-dreaming immediacy applicable both to Pepys and to Montagu. They have seen a vicious and bloody Civil War, a king beheaded (a thing unthinkable in English politics), a repressive Puritan theocracy (think The Handmaid's Tale), and a day so long awaited and planned for ... and now it comes off! It is history in the making and they know it. The extraordinary relief of tension catalyzes their happiness: they are drunk with adrenaline.
Not only that, but here is ordinary Sam Pepys at the center of it all, and the Duke of York -- royal blood! -- calls him by name, the royal pooch shits the boat. Sublime and ridiculous all jumbled together in one eventful day.
Pinch me, thinks Sam, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, if I hadn't written it in this private diary (little does he know), I wouldn't have believed it myself.

helena murphy  •  Link

A famous dog of the civil war was "Boye"who belonged to Charles' cousin, Prince Rupert. It was the son of "Puddle", a poodle which had been given to the prince by Lord Arundell during his captivity in Austria. The Roundheads attributed Rupert with diabolical powers, perhaps due to his tall dark appearance, firey red cloak , foreign accent ,and the fact that he also kept a pet hare! They saw "Boye" as his familiar, who went behind enemy lines and brought back information to its master. At Marston Moor, Boye broke loose and followed Rupert into battle where it was sadly killed.

Morragh, Patrick Prince Rupert of the Rhine Constable 1976

A. De Araujo  •  Link

For which Charles is the spaniel"Cavalier King Charles"named after? I presume is Charles the 2nd but why cavalier then?

Susanna  •  Link

(Cavalier) King Charles Spaniels

This breed is named for Charles II.

The "Cavalier" part of the breed name appears to stem from the fact that in the 19th century the breed was bred away from the appearance that the dogs had possessed in the 17th century. Starting in the 1920s an attempt was made by a small number of breeders to rebreed to the old appearance. This variety then received the name "Cavalier King Charles." (Why "Cavalier", I'm not sure. But there was a need felt to distinguish between the two varieties of King Charles Spaniels.)

For more information, here are websites on the breed's history, from the British and American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Clubs:

http://www.thecavalierclub.co.uk/…

http://www.ckcsc.org/ckcsc/ckcsc_…

Paul Brewster  •  Link

King to-day with his own hand did mark his height
A bizarre note from L&M (an episode worthy Monty Python) "The King had apparently caught his head against a beam. Cf. W. Blundell, Crosby Records (ed. Gibson), p 90: 'I was present on the ship (about five miles from Dover) two or three hours before King Charles II landed in England ... when the King (by reason of an accident) took his own measure, standing under a beam in the cabin, upon his place he made a mark with a knife. Sundry tall persons went under it, but there were none that could reach it.' Charles's height was given as 'above two yards' in the official description issued to aid in his capture after Worcester fight in 1651 ... His funeral effigy now at Westminster Abbey measures 6 ft 2 ins."

Glyn  •  Link

Which is strange considering his father was only just over 5ft tall, which is why most of his official portraits show him on horseback, or seated with his queen, rather than standing. There's no doubt that they were definitely father and son, so just shows how people's height can vary over a single generation.

Brian Barr  •  Link

The dog in the boat.
If you read the passage carefully, it seems that the dog (and Pepys) were not in the same boat as the king, so Charles probably wouldn't have known of the mess the dog made.

Nix  •  Link

Isn't there a well-known painting of Charles with his dogs? Or is it of his brother James?

Susanna  •  Link

Antonia Fraser suggests that Charles II's height and appearance were a throwback to his maternal ancestors, the Medicis of Florence:

"Of the many grandchildren of Marie de Medici, Charles was the only one to look purely Italian; the rest being in general both frailer and paler. But his appearance was certainly a complete throwback to his Italian ancestors, the Medici Dukes of Tuscany. Although not directly descended from Lorenzo the Magnificent there is a striking resemblance in their portraits."

("Royal Charles", p. 10)

Paul Brightwell  •  Link

Enough, already, with the moist-eyed Royalism! Pace Helena M, I would hate that anybody stumbling into this site should take it for some kind of fan club for Charles II, or indeed any other of that sorry, inbred rabble who have called themselves Kings & Queens of England. Now as then, surely many contemplating this period are deeply queasy about the turn events took in 1660. Despite all the hand (and arse) kissing, I'm struck by the quiet notes of scepticism that Pepys sounds -- a dog shits in a boat & reminds him "that a King and all that belong to him are but just as others are". For, despite all the absolutist posturing of the monarchy and its fans, after 1649 something changed for good in British political life, thank goodness.

Russ  •  Link

The Stuart monarchs - and the Tudors for the most part - did not claim to be superior to other men. They just claimed to have a completely different role in the society.

By contrast, the Calvinist Puritans did in fact claim to be better than everyone else.

vincent  •  Link

Under every Cavalier their resides a hope for a Title given the opp(u)rtunity
Rumour Had it that A.Bevin was offered the dukedom of Thrombosis: did turn it down after finding it in the Med. dict not in the Gazateer: Rumour?

Dai B  •  Link

Vince boyo, if it's Aneurin you're talking about, the surname is Bevan (from Welsh ap Ifan). Nobody called Ernest Bevin a champagne socialist.

vincent  •  Link

Dai B: You so correct : He help to start the NHS: "tis worth reading his accomplishments: He is quoted " I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction."
http://www.cyber-nation.com/victo…

Wayne Cooper  •  Link

Paul Brightwell should realise that the churlish interpretation perpetually read into English history by Americans reflects more on the latter than the former. That Charless II was indisputably the most popluar monarch in English history owes everything to the recent experience of the alternative which had been endured painfully by the populace for over a decade. Had George Washington been a less modest fellow, he may well have been proclaimed King George I of the United Kingdom of America. That the US constitution gives a Presidential veto to one person over the two houses of the Parliament, and allows for Presidential "pardons" of criminals reflects just how close the presidency was intended to be to the role of the English King or Queen. Q: Why is it that bozos like Ronald Reagan and Calvin Coolidge, sleazeballs like Kennedy and Clinton and humourless twerps like Eisenhower and Carter are so revered by US citizens and not described as a "sorry, in-bred rabble"? Surely not because 23% of the people over 21 were drunk enough to turn up and vote on election day? Or maybe it is this commitment to "democracy" that allows Bush to get over Gore because the folks in Florida didn't quite get how to fill in the voting card.

jeannine  •  Link

Sandwich's Journal Entry Today

"Friday. About ten of the clock in the morning the fleet came to the anchor in Dover road. About one of the clock in the afternoon the King and the Dukes of York and Gloucester went off on board into the General's barge, Captain Cuttance steering the barge and the General standing before the house of the barge. Beale's brigantine rowed into the shore ahead of the barge, the Vice Admiral upon the starboard quarter and Rear Admiral upon the larborad, divers other boats of the fleet in company; and between three and four of the clock in the afternoon the King's most sacred majesty and their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York and Gloucester went on shore upon the strand a little northward of Dover pier, where immediately General Monk met him, and when General Mountague had attened his Majesty and the Dukes unto General Mock have had the honour to kiss their hands, he presently went back on board the Charles and sailed that night into the Downs. The Charles fired 3 rounds and the rest of the fleet 5 rounds in salutes."

tonyt  •  Link

We get a brief glimpse of Charles' own thoughts at this time in a private letter that he wrote to his 15 year old sister, Princess Henriette-Anne, from Canterbury on May 26th 1660.

'I was so plagued with business at the Hague that I could not write to you before my departure... I arrived yesterday at Dover where I found Monk with a great number of the nobility who almost overwhelmed me with friendship and joy at my return. My head is so prodigiously dazed by the acclamation of the people and by quantities of business that I know not whether I am writing sense or no, therefore you will pardon me if I do not tell you any more, only that I am entirely yours.
For my dear Sister. C. '

(As printed in 'The King My Brother' by Cyril Hughes Hartmann (1954). He gives the primary source as British Museum, Additional Manuscript 18,738.)

Terry F  •  Link

THE SEAMEN TO CHARLES II

THE VALIANT SEAMAN'S CONGRATULATION TO HIS SACRED MAJESTY KING CHARLES II - With their wonderfull, heroical atchievements, and their fidelity, loyalty, and obedience. To the tune of Let us drink and sing, and merrily troul the bowl. Or, The stormy winds do Mow. Or, Hey Ho, my Hony.

Great Charles, your English seamen upon our bended knee,
Present ourselves as freemen, unto your Majesty,
Beseeching God to blesse you where-ever that you go, So we pray, night and day, when the stormy winds do blow.

In darkest nights, or shipwracks, alwayes we are on our guard :
Of French or Turkish pirats, we never were afraid.
But cal'd stout English sea-men where-ever that we go,
For we make, them to quake, when the stormy winds do blow.

We are your valiant sea-men that brought you out of Spain :
And will as war-like free-men your royal cause maintain.
If you will give commission to wars with France wee'l go :
Then shall we, merry be, when the stormy winds do blow.

'Twas we did sail you over to English ground agen ;
And landed you at Dover, with all your noble men.
For which we are renowned where-ever we do go :
Honour will, tend us still, when the stormy winds do blow.

And now we are a ranging upon the ocean seas,
The Frenchmen they are changing and cannot be at ease,
For we will make their top-sailes unto our fleet shall bow :
Then shall we, merry be, when the stormy winds do blow.

Sometimes our tacklings breaking, our masts are cut in two :
Our ships are often leaking, great straits we're put unto.
In great tempestuous weather, which few at home doth know,
Thus do we, live at sea, when the stormy winds do blow.

When some at home are feeding and cheering up themselves,
Then we at sea are bleeding amongst the rocks and shelves.
Yet greater dangers ready, still we will undergo,
For our King, and will sing, when the stormy winds do blow.

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk…

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

We are reminded of this dog-love on looking over files of the London Gazettes of the later years of Charles II. In the first number for 1682, there are no less than three rewards for lost dogs—' spaniels,' and ' little shock dogs.' The offered rewards vary from ten shillings to twenty. These advertisements continue throughout the year. The lost dog is sometimes stated to be the property of his majesty. The reader will remember the picture of the king in Peveril of the Peat, attended by his six or seven little curly-haired spaniels, 'whose gambols seemed to afford him much amusement.' Charles's ladies seem also to have shared in this dog-love of their sultan and master, and to have suffered also occasionally from the like loss or theft of their canine pets. In No. 1841 of the London Gazette (July 9th to 12th, 1683), 'her Grace the Duchess of Portsmouth' advertises an offer of two guineas for the recovery of 'a young little black bitch.' The finder is requested to 'bring her to the porter at Whitehall Gate.' This dog-fancying descended apparently to the Stuarts of illegitimate birth. In 1682, the Gazette advertises 'a black, grisly dog, cropped ear, bobed [sic] tail,' which 'belongs to' the affable, generous, and handsome 'Duke of Monmouth.' On turning over the Gazettes for the very next year, I find a proclamation for the apprehending of the Duke himself.

---Chambers's Journal, 1863

Terry Foreman  •  Link

House of Lords Journal yesterday

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Letter to the King, to congratulate Him on His safe Arrival:

"May it please Your Majesty,

"The Sense Your faithful Subjects the Peers now assembled have of Your Majesty's safe Arrival into this Your Realm of England is so great, as obligeth them with all dutiful Acknowledgements to express the same by these Lines, before they have the Honour and Happiness to do it personally to Your Majesty; which they intend to perform so soon as they shall receive Signification of Your Majesty's Pleasure, when, where, and in what Manner, they shall wait upon You. And, as Your faithful Council, do humbly offer to Your Majesty's Deliberation, so to consult the Safety of Your Royal Person (wherein they are highly concerned), that, in Your Return to London, the Security thereof be preferred to all external Considerations. Which, out of our Zeal to Your Majesty, is humbly offered, by

Westm. 25° Maii, 1660.

"Your Majesty's

"Most humble, faithful, and obedient

"Subjects and Servants.

"To the King's Most Excellent Majesty.

"Signed, in the Name and by the Command of the said House of Peers, by

"E. Manchester, Speaker of the House of Peers pro Tempore."

Bill  •  Link

Bunch of suck-ups, these "Lords".

Dick Wilson  •  Link

My ancestors were much too loyal to the Stuarts. The Governor & Council of Virginia were appalled by the execution of Charles I, and one of my ancestors promptly took ship to the Netherlands, bearing Virginia's declaration of loyalty to Charles II. When he got back to Virginia, he found that in the interim, Parliament had sent a ship. Actually they sent a squadron, but the other ships headed for the Sugar islands; only one went to Virginia. That was all it took. During the Civil War and Commonwealth years, Virginia was largely ignored by London, which meant that Virginia prospered. After the restoration, Charles II gave the colony to three favorites, and never mind that there were thousands of landowners already in possession of the properties. My ancestor "attorned", that is, he paid quitrent to Lord Fairfax for the lands the family had then owned for two generations. He should have invited Fairfax to explain quitrent to the Indians.

Richard Whittall  •  Link

It would be rather nice if we could read these entries without the Victorian censorship. I like to read Sam in his own vulgar words.

HTFB  •  Link

There is a painting of today's events at the Milwaukee Art Museum, of which the illustration Terry Foreman links to (though the link doesn't work for me) seems to be an engraving:
"General Monk Receiving Charles II on the Beaches of Dover" by Benjamin West in 1782
http://collection.mam.org/details…

By happy coincidence I came across it while holidaying in Milwaukee just a day after reading about the event in the second broadcast here of the Diary. So I knew what was going on! Monck is kneeling obsequiously to the King supported by the two Dukes: but Charles' restoration was absolutely in Monck's gift and the very clothes that Charles is wearing were in effect paid for by him. Back in February we saw that Monck had complete control over who would sit in Parliament and was both commander-in-chief of the army and head of the Council governing the country while Parliament was dissolved: he could have been Lord Protector, or President, if he chose.

West was an American who had emigrated to London and was appointed Historical Painter to the Court of George III in 1772. Although he was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and trained many American artists in his studio in England he was evidently a Loyalist and he never returned to America after the Revolution. By 1782 the American Revolutionary War was clearly going to end in a victory for the Republic, but the terms of peace had not been agreed.

So this is a painting showing the victorious general of the republican forces, with presidential authority, choosing at the end of a divisive and destructive war to return his country to the rule of the King in the interests of peace and stability---the analogy is obvious and the propaganda intent of the painting is glaring. I wonder whether Washington ever saw it, or the engraving?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"The Mayor also presented him from the town a very rich Bible,"

L&M note it was presented in fact not by the Mayor (Thomas Broome) but by the chaplain to the corporation, John Reading (minister of St Mary's), an aged loyalist, once chaplain to Charles I.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Information from CHARLES II AND HIS COURT
BY A. G. A. BRETT
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
LONDON: METHUEN & GO. LTD.
1910
https://archive.org/stream/charle…

On 25 May, 1660, being close to land, Charles II and his brothers ate pease and pork and boiled beef for breakfast; and before disembarking, Charles measured and marked his height at the upper end of the coach table.

Charles arrived at Dover about two o'clock in the afternoon, 1 and went ashore in Lord Sandwich's barge;

1 "In a slashed doublet then he came ashore,
And dubbed poor Palmer's wife his royal whore." -- Andrew Marvell -- An Historical Poem.

On landing Charles II fell on his knees and thanked God for his happy restoration. He was then received by Gen. George Monck, Heneage Finch, 2nd/3rd Earl of Winchilsea [his mother was the Countess of Winchilsea in her own right, so they never settled whether he was the 2nd or 3rd Earl - sds], and other nobles, on one side; and on the other by the Mayor and Corporation of Dover, bearing a rich canopy.

Monck kneeled on one knee and kissed the King's hand, and his Majesty embraced him, calling him "Father." The Duke of York kissed the General repeatedly, while Henry of Gloucester threw his cap in the air, crying, "God bless General Monck."

The Mayor then rendered up his white staff of office to Charles, who returned it, receiving next a rich Bible, which he took and said it was the thing he loved above all things in the world.

After standing a while under the canopy and talking with Monck and others, the King and the Dukes entered a coach.

FROM DOVER TO CANTERBURY 141

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who had been chillingly received by Charles II on landing, was not invited to enter the royal carriage with Monck, but nevertheless secured a seat in the boot.

When Charles II left the coach on Barham Down, Buckingham left it too, and rode bareheaded behind his Majesty as he rode to the head of each of the troops of horse drawn up on the Down, commanded by the Earls of Oxford, Derby, and others: the Kentish Foot were also present. The troops were placed, three deep, on Charles' left, and bowing to him, kissed the hilts of their swords, and then flourished these above their heads, with no less acclamations than the country people shouting round about; and the trumpets also echoing the same.

In the suburb at Canterbury stood the Mayor and Aldermen, receiving the King with loud music, and presenting him with a golden cup (or bowl full of gold) worth 250l.

After a speech by the Recorder, Charles passed to Lord Campden's house, the Mayor carrying the sword before him.

Charles II stayed in Canterbury from May 25 - Monday, May 28.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Cavalier King Charles spaniels:
The especially large number of potentially harmful genes in the genomes of cavalier King Charles spaniels, compared to other dogs, likely resulted from its breeding history.
Records suggest that small spaniel-type dogs have existed for at least 1,000 years and were popular at royal courts for several hundred years throughout Asia and Europe, including at the court of King Charles II (1630-1685).
These spaniels experienced several "bottlenecks" where only a small percentage of the population passed on their genes to the next generation.
The bottlenecks may have made the harmful genes more common in the cavalier King Charles spaniel genome before the dog achieved recognition as a breed in 1945.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-r…

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

CONTINUED FROM THE 23rd:

The English coast came into view the second night. Charles II, James and Henry decided they wanted to eat the ship's rations of peas, cooked pork and beef before they went ashore.

Charles II then gave to the crew 500/.s and to the servants of Montagu 50/.s. Around 12 o'clock he stepped into the Admiral’s flat tree boat and was rowed with his two brothers to Dover.
(Text source: The Travels of the King Charles II in Germany and Flanders 1654-1660 by Eva Scott).

http://intheboatshed.net/2015/03/…

elgin marble  •  Link

‘Infinite the crowd of people’:
I particularly like the poetic ‘Infinite the crowd of people…’ welcoming Charles on his arrival at Dover as he disembarks from a landing craft that Pepys had been in charge of chartering and fitting out. He must’ve been feeling very proud of himself - which may account for his use of hyperbole – unless perhaps inspired by a poem or other literary text he’s familiar with (any suggestions?)

How many, I wonder, would actually have been in the crowd on that beach to greet him and, more to the point, who were they?

Sandwich’s account (Jeaninne 01.05.06) doesn’t mention a crowd at all. Charles’ letter (quoted by tonyt 13.05.07) refers only to ‘a great number of the nobility’ some accompanied, one assumes, by troops. Perhaps also some of the seamen were disembarked (Terry F, 28.08.07).

Pepys, on the other hand (as one might expect of him) also mentions the presence of citizens. But which citizens: just the mayor and other local dignitaries? What of the ordinary local citizens who, having sighted the royal ships in advance, would have headed for the shore to witness the momentous event and cheer ('amid popular rejoicing')? They are a token presence in Benjamin West’s representation of the event (HFTB 07.06.13) but then the artist was working within the Royal Academy’s conventions of history painting, not those of on-the-spot reporting. In reality, wouldn't the common onlookers have been kept well away from the beach (by the soldiers?) if only to guard against a possible attempt on the Prince’s life by his enemies?

To read related speculation about this particular entry, see my own for May 25 in the online selection of the diary entries I made throughout the 1990s while at the same time reading Pepys’. The link to the post in question is as follows:

http://parisdiaries1990s.com/2020…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Going ashore was an act of courage, as there had been at least one attempt on Charles II's life recently. Who knew what reception awaited the Stuart brothers on the beach ... Generals Monck and Montagu had probably stationed trustworthy men in the crowd, but we all know what a lone gunman can do.

"My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution." -- George Washington (30 days before his first inauguration). I suspect Charles II shared this sense of foreboding.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

As a dog lover, Charles II would want Susanna (above) to know that Cavalier Spaniels and King Charles Spaniels are two different breeds. Cavalier are much bigger.
King Charles Spaniels are little and cute and lots of fun, but not known for intelligence, so it's not surprising they would get lost in a place as big as Whitehall.

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