Based on much previously unused material, this is a full-length biography of one of the most popular of all English sovereigns. Covering his life from a childhood marred by the advent of civil war, through his colourful years as a prince on campaign and as a monarch in exile in France and the United Provinces, to his Restoration and 25-year reign, this biography also considers Charles's rule in Ireland and Scotland, making it a united history of the British Isles in this period. The work should interest students and scholars of the Stuart period, general readers interested in biography, monarchy, and 17th-century history.