The Downfall of King Charles I

When Prince Andrew was formally arrested in February 2026, I immediately thought of the last royal to be taken into custody: King Charles I, in 1647.

For Andrew, the arrest led to a quiet exit from public life. For Charles, it led to a civil war, the rise of a republic, and the end of his reign, and his life, on a scaffold outside the palace

What happens when a King decides to ghost his government?

King Charles I believed in the Divine Right of Kings—the idea that a monarch was answerable only to God, not the law. This steadfast belief led Charles to dismiss parliamnt and begin an eleven year period of tyrannical rule that ignored Parliament entirely. But between his opulent lifestyle, illegal "wartime" taxes, and a controversial marriage that sparked religious fears, England reached a breaking point.

From his standoff with a Puritan-led Parliament to the outbreak of the English Civil War, this is how the British monarchy was (temporarily) deleted.