Cradling Bridget in my arms, I plucked the letter out and cracked the seal. The message inside was written in the same hand as all the letters I’d received, the letters I’d foolishly thought had come from the Templars. But this message offered no riddles, and no puzzle.

My dear Christopher,

Look what I found in the street. You should be more careful with your things. You wouldn’t want to lose them.

With anticipation,

The Raven

A FEW MATTERS OF HISTORICAL NOTE

A friend of Charles II once wrote a poem about him. As the story goes, the poem was pinned to the door of the king’s bedroom, for all to read:

Here lies our sovereign lord and king,

Whose word no man relies on;

He never says a foolish thing,

Nor ever does a wise one.

As usual, Charles responded with good humor, saying, “This is very true, for my words are my own, but my actions are my ministers’.” And this more or less sums up his reputation: good-natured, intelligent, and funny—and also lazy, slippery, and ineffective.

There is some truth to these charges. Charles, the Merry Monarch, was one of the most popular kings of England, beloved by just about everyone—with some notable exceptions, as we have seen. Yet unlike more famous rulers such as Henry VIII or Elizabeth I, Charles was something of an underachiever.

His character was shaped by incredible events. By all accounts, he was a happy, sweet-natured, affectionate young boy. Then his life was overturned by rebellion. He saw his first battle at the age of twelve, eventually going on to fight in them himself until the Royalist armies were defeated and he was forced to flee England. (An extraordinary adventure during which he hid from enemy troops in an oak tree, stained his skin with walnut juice as a disguise, and pretended to be a servant—and an incompetent one, at that. It was a story Charles never tired of telling.)

When his father was executed, Charles was heartbroken. He spent the next eight years moving from country to country in exile. After he was finally restored to his throne, he was determined never to lose it again. Every decision was made according to whether it would strengthen or weaken his position. So, as noted, he was not above breaking oaths when necessary.

He did also give an impression of laziness, though this wasn’t entirely true. Certainly, he enjoyed his leisure time to the point of self-indulgence, and he despised endless business meetings (though who can fault him for that? I can’t stand them, either). But he worked harder than he let on. Many times he rose early, reading the day’s missives in private, where no one could see him. So he was much more informed than his detractors gave him credit for.

Whatever his failings, in the end, his people loved him. While not the most accomplished king, he was a kind one, generous and forgiving, never cruel. He supported education and discovery, giving his patronage to found the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences. He was brave in battle, a skilled swordsman and horseman, and, unlike many rulers, he cared genuinely for his countrymen.