Richard Cromwell England’s Last President

Richard Cromwell succeeded his famous father, Oliver, as Lord Protector in 1658 and resigned 274 days later, making way for Charles II to return to England and take the Crown. Born in 1626, Richard was a disappointment to his father. Despite this, Cromwell named Richard as his successor. However, although Richard was intelligent and not uncharismatic in his own right, he did not have the desire to rule as his father had and struggled to establish his authority as Lord Protector.

Upon the Restoration, Richard was pilloried by his contemporaries. The poet John Dryden, in ‘Absalom and Achitophel’, described him as ‘the foolish Ishbosheth’. He was called ‘Queen Sick’ by royalists.

Despite this, Richard was never tried for treason and lived to a grand old age, making him the longest-lived British head of state for three centuries. During a long life in exile, Richard visited the courts of Europe and took part in many adventures before returning to Hampshire in 1680.

This remarkable book is the first modern biography of Richard Cromwell and offers a profound reassessment of his life and abilities. As Cromwell’s successor, for instance, the role of finding a balance between the army, a war-weary civil society and a Parliament stuffed full of disaffected royalists and Presbyterians would have been beyond almost anyone; in effect, his father left him a hospital pass. It also looks in detail at the complex and difficult relationship between Richard and his overbearing father, Cromwell.

What emerges is the fascinating, untold story of a man who was both lead protagonist and survivor of an age of unparallelled turbulence.

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