Charles I made his 2nd escape attempt from Carisbrooke Castle on 29th May 1648 – 375 years ago today.
King Charles I arrived on the Isle of Wight in 1647 having escaped from house arrest in Hampton Court. He had been held by parliamentary forces having been given up to them by the Scottish Presbyterian army.
He sought sanctuary with Colonel Robert Hammond, Governor of Carisbrooke Castle, whom he believed was sympathetic to his cause. However, this trust was misplaced and Hammond promptly confined him to Carisbrooke Castle where he would spend more than a year. Visitors to Carisbrooke can still see the room where he was held.
He made his 1st escape attempt on 20th March 1648 when he tried to climb out of a window and lower himself 10ft on a silk cord only to become lodged between an iron bar and the window frame and he was forced to retreat to his room.
The 2nd attempt came on 29th May 1648 after a hacksaw and nitric acid had been smuggled into Carisbrooke to help the King loosen and remove a window bar. He was working with the hacksaw when Colonel Hammond walked into the room and the plot was foiled.
Coincidentally, it was also the 18th birthday of his son – the future King Charles II – and exactly 12 years to the day before Charles II entered London to be proclaimed King following the Restoration.
Over 350 years later and this month we welcomed King Charles III to the throne following his coronation on 6th May.
I hope they caught him. We can do without those kinds of people roaming the streets of Newport! Bloody Royalists!