Charles I Abroad

The English court and a substanital group of Cavaliers flee to either

A) a friendly European nation

or

B) the American colonies.

How does this effect history?
 
Them fleeing to the colonies would be interesting. 1640s Virginia is not like 1770s America. The Dominion had only existed for a generation, for a start, and living conditions weren't great. If for some reason Charles and his family went there, they'd fade to insignificance rapidly - there wasn't enough of a society for them to live "the high life", there's a good chance several family members could easily die of disease, and indeed the colony could collapse trying to support them unless they were willing to live the life of nothing more than a penniless country gent. On top of that, if the King fled to the colonies it would likely see the first time that the English ever sent a military force to occupy their own colony, and if that happened the King frankly wouldn't have half the chance of escaping that he would anywhere in Europe - there'd just be nowhere for him to go and no-one to shelter him.

Now, Europe is different. Of course, Europe also has a million and one different options. You'd really need to specify when exactly you're proposing he flees to get an actual specific response, however...
 

Thande

Donor
I don't think it would be in Charles' character to flee abroad (the Stuart kings in particular were very "England or bust" even after they became pretender after 1688). I do recall someone on the Old Board having a TL about Cavalier Virginia - and Virginia and Carolina, Maryland etc is about all you could get, probably, given the Puritan sympathies in the northern colonies. Virginia was the only colony that seriously resisted when Cromwell sent his emissaries to establish the Republic's rule in America.
 
In OTL, the execution of Charles I made him a martyr in some people's eyes. On the other hand, if he flees abroad, more people are likely to see him as a tyrant who waged war against his own people and then fled like a coward when he lost. This could be enough to significantly undermine any chance of a future restoration of the monarchy, and possibly give England a better chance of evolving into a stable republic. Possibly.
 
Top