Book Review: Charles II: The Last Rally

Charles II: The Last Rally by Hilaire Belloc, 1939 (2003). 223pp.

I’ve actually never read a history book by Belloc before. Economic essays and children’s poems, yes, but not any of the history that was his trade and legacy. From what I knew of his reputation, I assumed he would be a very good Catholic historian, and this book, one of his very last, did not disappoint.

Every other biography I’ve read in my life told a story, the story of the subject’s life. This book was not a story; it was a work of analysis. In other words, it assumed I already knew all about Charles II’s life and times, the course of events in Restoration England and the names of the major players–which, alas, I did not. I searched for a metaphor to explain my reading experience as I worked through this book. This is what I came up with: Belloc’s rigorous analysis of this King’s actions and legacy was like a tightly wound clock, every point and theme ticking together intricately and perfectly throughout the whole book. I have never experienced history like this before. This book would be exactly the type of thing to teach history students how to write about history–exquisite workmanship.

The book’s subtitle (The Last Rally) hints at a military metaphor as an underlying theme: indeed, most of the chapters have titles that relate each stage of Charles II’s life to events in a naval campaign. Belloc sets Charles’ entire life up as a campaign of the traditional English Kingship vs. the Money Power (a.k.a. Oligarchs, Squirearchy, Titled Elites). His thesis is that Charles spent his whole life fighting for the endurance of the English monarchy against the richest families in England, and–he ultimately lost. I was fascinated that this is what Belloc set out to prove, from the very first page, and I wanted to see how it happened. Again, I certainly wish I had known the story of this period of English history before I read this analysis.

There is so much I want to say about this book, but it would take several blog posts to do that; I’ll have to pinpoint my very most favorite things. Throughout the book, Belloc tells us that the “ship” of Charles’ mission “foundered on the reef:” Catholicism. Charles himself did not convert to Catholicism until hours before his death (at age 54), but Belloc believes that his life-long sympathy to Catholicism, along with his brother James’ conversion, was what the Elites couldn’t brook, and caused the great conflict that the monarchy ultimately lost. I’ve known all along that James converted to Catholicism, but I never had any idea it was because of his first wife, who was raised an Anglican, and who was the mother of the Protestant daughters, NOT because of his Catholic second wife (the one who bore him the son and heir who was later known as “The Old Pretender” and who was actually the legitimate king).  Anyway, this first wife, Anne Hyde, wrote a short and beautiful explanation of her conversion before she died of breast cancer, and Belloc printed it out in the book. So lovely!

Of course, Belloc did have to address the issue of Charles’ harem of women, and he did so, briefly–you could feel the eye rolls as he did so. Curiously, for a good and believing Catholic, Belloc claimed that Charles’ promiscuity and infidelity did not debase or warp him in any way.  I know I’m not a great historian and all, but I just don’t see how it couldn’t have. Maybe Charles was able to stick to his mission and political objectives and not let the women suggest political things to him and all that–but this behavior would have to have a very deleterious effect on his life and character. (Golly, one of his illegitimate children was in a plot to kill him and take the throne from him, after all!)

One interesting chapter near the end is called “Whiggery”. It is an attempt to explain the origins of the weird English phenomenon of rich conservatives somehow holding two contradictory ideas at the same time and making it work: that all citizens are equal and freedom of the individual is paramount–AND that “the wealthy are the natural leaders of the community.” Belloc says that no foreigners can really understand this, and he spends an entire chapter describing this mindset and how it destroyed the monarchy, the agricultural way of life across the country, the last vestiges of Catholic culture, etc., in Restoration England. I have read enough Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope novels to have been intrigued by the lived philosophy these type of people, and the analysis of their class ideals was enlightening.

Okay, I had better stop now. But I do want to relate this to the present day before I go. The ever-informative internet relates that when Prince William finally inherits the throne of England, that will be the very first time a descendant of Charles II has ever reigned on the English throne: Princess Diana was descended from not one, but TWO of his illegitimate children who were made into earls or dukes and such. But, as Belloc was constantly at work in his book to point out–and emphasized literally on almost every other page–the throne that this descendant of Charles will inherit is meaningless and devoid of any power, because of the results of the choices that Charles himself made. He was (except for his immediately ousted brother of course) the last true, legitimate King of England, and also the last to truly wield the power of kingship.