Original subtitles

- (music)

- On the 21st of May 1662,

King Charles II marries a very rich,

and very Catholic, princess.

Catherine of Braganza.

- Welcome to our English court.

- Thank you.

- Catherine comes with an impressive dowry,

equivalent to £74 million today.

Now Charles plans to become Europe's most powerful king.

He'll hunt down the men who killed his father,

start a devastating war, and become an even bigger tyrant.

But you know what they say.

Power corrupts.

And absolute power...is even nicer.

- (rock music)

- (rock music builds)

- So Charles is a married man.

Who saw that coming?

Finally, he'll have the money to be free from Parliament,

to rule without restraint,

like his cousin, Louis XIV of France.

Free to hunt down anyone left on his kill list, with impunity.

And top of his kill list?

Foremost of the men who signed Charles I's death warrant,

Edmund Ludlow.

Ludlow is gathering allies on the continent,

plotting to overthrow the king,

and evading Charles's network of Royalist spies. Until now.

Because finally, finally, there's news.

Edmund Ludlow's been spotted in Vevey in Switzerland.

A spot of hunting is in order.

Regicides are in season.

SHEILA: Ludlow and his allies

have been granted protection by the Protestant Swiss.

Ludlow is joined by English republican, Algernon Sidney.

Together, they represent the greatest threat to Charles's rule.

Remember George Downing?

The former republican now paid by the king

to hunt down regicides in Europe.

Well, with his newfound independence from parliament,

Charles has now let him off the leash to employ more direct methods.

He's hired Captain John Reardon, an Irish assassin

with a reputation for extreme violence.

- Downing's a big fan of yours, Reardon.

So you must be a terrible bastard.

- This is a new departure, even for Charles.

Kings don't hire hitmen.

Well, kings shouldn't be seen to hire hitmen.

- (scoffs)

A hitman? Look, Charles isn't a gangster.

Reardon's a...freelancer.

- He's not particularly fond of Protestants.

- Cromwell was not kind to you Catholics.

- Normally, I won't allow mention of that murdering bastard.

- Under Cromwell, it's estimated

that up to 40% of Irish people were massacred.

- Hm! Good man.

I wonder, how would you feel about murdering the head of his army?

JOSEPH: Not only is Reardon a stone cold killer,

he has personal beef with Ludlow,

who butchered his friends in Ireland.

Couldn't be more perfect.

- Hm, why, that'd be my absolute fucking pleasure.

- (chuckles) Good man.

- (dramatic music)

SHEILA: Now Charles turns his attention to politics,

and consolidating his power on the world stage.

- (yelling)

SHEILA: The Dutch duly handed over Charles's enemies for execution,

in return for a lucrative trade deal.

But Charles failed to keep his side of the bargain.

Now the conflict threatens to escalate.

- What does de Wittless want?

- To discuss the trade concessions you promised last year.

- Can they talk of nothing but trade? It's incredibly dull.

- Charles is thinking about the future.

He wants to be remembered as a pioneering monarch.

And that means building an empire, expanding trade,

and making England a commercial powerhouse.

To do this, Charles plans to muscle in on the Dutch,

Europe's richest and most successful trading nation.

They dominate in everything. From sugar, iron and copper,

to the transportation of enslaved Africans.

- Congratulations on your marriage. - Hm.

- When we handed over your father's enemies,

you think we did that just because you're a great guy?

- No, because you want to guarantee a monopoly on the slave trade.

- Among other things. - What hypocrites you Dutch are.

I thought you believed in liberty.

- When Charles looks at de Witt, he sees a small man

with an even smaller country, but much greater wealth,

the majority from trade, including the slave trade.

It's very simple. Charles wants what de Witt has.

- We put you here because we thought we could work with you.

If not, we'll find someone who will.

- The more a shit's stirred, the more it stinks.

I don't give a shit what you think.

- Your enemies are running round Europe, everyone's laughing at you.

- Oh, really? - Yeah. They do.

No-one fears you like Cromwell.

- (grunts)

- You need to understand, the promise of Catherine's dowry

has completely changed Charles's outlook.

Does Charles want to make enemies?

Yeah, actually he does.

He's done apologising. Great men don't ask for permission.

They take what they want, and they get it.

- News of Charles's rift with de Witt reaches the exiled republicans.

For Edmund Ludlow, this is the opportunity he's been waiting for.

And he dispatches Algernon Sidney to do a deal with the Dutch.

Think of Sydney like an ambassador

for a country that doesn't exist yet.

He wants the Dutch to join forces with the exiles

to invade England and establish a new republic.

Here's what Sydney proposes.

If the Dutch help the regicides topple Charles,

the new English regime will honour the trade deal

that Charles has reneged on.

- Invade?

And it will be another decade of civil war,

and England must be sick of it.

- Civil war may be a disease of the state,

but tyranny is its death.

- You are so quotable, Algernon,

and you always bring the most delicious wine.

- I've brought you General Ludlow.

He could not be more serious about overthrowing Charles.

JARED: The promise that the republican forces

will be led by the legendary Edmund Ludlow

is the reassurance that the Dutch need.

But before a deal can be struck,

Ludlow has just one tiny request.

Not unreasonable.

Apologise for betraying his regicide allies.

- You must first condemn handing over his fellow men.

- That is out of the question.

- Why?

- Because we didn't hand them over in the first place.

- OK, maybe he didn't personally put them on a ship.

But he knew what Downing was up to. He could have stopped it.

It's an uneasy alliance,

but the Dutch promise 10,000 soldiers, 20,000 sailors,

and their entire fleet, to overthrow Charles.

- This is the last thing Charles needs.

The regicides and the Dutch. Republican bastards.

They're as treacherous and as hypocritical as each other.

Charles now adds Algernon Sidney to his ever growing kill list.

As for the Dutch...

- I won't have de Fuckwitt cosying up to my enemies!

I want to hit them where it hurts!

- We simply don't have enough ships for a battle.

- Their country is puny. - Their navy is large.

If we take them on, we risk losing our fleet.

- Well, we beat them last time. - That was...

- That was what?

- A different time.

- Here's what you need to understand.

England has been punching above its weight on the world stage.

Under Cromwell, England had become a military superpower,

winning spectacular victories against the Spanish and Dutch.

But since Charles's return, its military power is on the wane.

Hyde worries that war will reveal

that England is nowhere near as powerful as it once was.

- This really stings. You see, unlike Cromwell,

Charles has never won a war.

In fact, the only time he led an army, he ended up hiding in a tree.

Is it any wonder he's so desperate to prove himself?

- If you can't fight them, stop them from trading.

CHARLES: How?

- We bar their ships from our ports.

- It's a brilliant plan.

Starving the Dutch of valuable trade

and buying Charles time to build up his forces.

- English ports...for English boats.

Well, it has a ring to it.

I like it, James. Fucking love it! (chuckles)

- (melancholy piano music)

SHEILA: But Charles doesn't only ban Dutch sailors

from entering English ports.

He gives English sailors the right to act like pirates,

attacking and looting Dutch ships.

English money and naval power pours into transatlantic slavery.

- The slave trade is already in existence at this point.

But when Charles signs this document,

he industrialises it to an unimaginable scale.

Charles's moral descent

reaches an appalling new level.

- Some of the very worst crimes against humanity,

all signed off by...

..the king.

JARED: As the king's nemesis Edmund Ludlow

gathers republican forces in Switzerland,

his wife Elizabeth races across Europe.

A single woman, travelling across Europe, it's unheard of.

But Elizabeth Ludlow is no ordinary woman.

She's as dedicated to the republican cause as her husband.

With Irish assassin John Reardon closing in,

some of the exiled regicides decide to run.

- Lisle!

In the name of the king!

- (shot rings out)

JARED: The King of England has had a man

illegally assassinated on foreign soil.

John Lisle, a member of Cromwell's parliament,

who had sat in judgement on the late king.

This is a gangland murder.

- Oh, please. It was self-defence.

- He was shot in the back!

SHEILA: Whatever it is, it's another name

Charles can strike from his kill list.

But the king's assassins are only getting started.

The main prize is Edmund Ludlow.

- (door creaks)

- Been too long since I shot an Irishman!

- English bastard!

- (chaotic music)

Oh!

- Reardon might have killed one more regicide.

But the main target, Ludlow, escaped,

and he knows Charles is on to him.

It's bad news for the king.

SHEILA: And now he's facing a new battle much closer to home.

His new queen must appoint the head of her household,

the first lady of the bedchamber.

It is an appointment which must be approved by the king.

But unbeknownst to Charles, his mistress, Lady Barbara Villiers,

has made a power grab.

- The Queen is profoundly upset.

- A conversation with you and who wouldn't be?

- You appointed Lady Villiers

first lady of the bedchamber without telling me.

What were you thinking?

- Lady of the Queen's Bedchamber

is the highest position for a woman at court.

So Barbara has been telling everyone

that Charles has promised her the role, but it's a lie.

- As it happens, I did not.

But you confronting me in this appalling way

makes me think that I should have.

SHEILA: The king's mistress is the last person

that Queen Catherine wants as the head of her bedchamber.

- You would have been better off

putting a whore in the Queen's bedchamber than Barbara Villiers!

- (footsteps recede)

- Now look what you've done, Hyde. You've upset her.

Barbara knows Charles will not allow anyone to publicly challenge him,

even if it's on a decision he didn't make.

JOSEPH: But bad news arrives that suddenly makes

Charles's domestic crisis the least of his worries.

- Catherine's dowry never arrived on the ship.

All those millions vanish before Charles's eyes, like that.

- It turns out they never had the money in the first place.

- Where's the fucking money your father promised me?

- I don't understand.

JOSEPH: Charles has received the territories of Bombay and Tangier.

But without the dowry, his plans for global expansion,

his whole legacy, are in jeopardy.

- If you don't understand English then I'll give you a bloody lesson.

SHEILA: And it's terrible news for Queen Catherine.

Without the dowry, she is forced to accept Barbara

as the head of her household.

Although Barbara might have won,

even she is unprepared for what he does next.

- Who is your master?

- My master is God. - Your husband is your God.

- My husband is the devil!

SHEILA: Charles places Catherine in solitary confinement

while priests psychologically torture her,

day and night, for three months.

- Charles wants to send a warning to the Dutch, the regicides,

and anyone who's thinking of taking advantage.

Mess with him and he'll make you submit.

JARED: The republican Algernon Sidney reaches Edmund Ludlow

with news of the Dutch offer.

10,000 soldiers and 20,000 sailors for an invasion.

- It's twice as many sailors as soldiers.

They don't care about an invasion, only trade.

- 10,000 troops.

- It's not nearly enough for an invasion!

- Here's what Sidney doesn't get.

The Dutch don't need to get rid of Charles.

They just need to force him to the negotiating table.

No wonder Ludlow is thinking twice about their offer.

- Once back in England, we'll rally more people.

- We need professional soldiers.

I know how good his army is. I fucking trained it.

We need twice as many men.

- There's only one man in Europe that can give you that.

- What? Fucking Louis?

He's the one man in Europe you hate more than Charles Stuart.

SHEILA: France is the most powerful country in Europe,

with the biggest army.

The problem is, it represents

everything that Ludlow and the republicans hate.

It is an oppressive Catholic monarchy,

infamous for massacring Protestants.

But Sidney believes the ends justify the means.

He sets up a secret meeting with the most feared man in Europe.

Meet Louis XIV, the Sun King himself.

He's the ultimate puppet master,

who loves nothing more than manipulating his enemies

into war against each other.

He actively destabilises his neighbours,

knowing it will only make France stronger.

- My advisors tell me that you are

the most confident young man in Europe.

- I'm older than you.

- But I'm not a man, I'm a god.

- Cousin to the king we seek to overthrow.

- But what's wrong with the way things have always been?

JARED: Sidney wants Louis to help them overthrow his cousin, Charles.

It's a big ask.

But here's the thing about Sidney,

he'll do whatever it takes to get it over the line.

- Somewhat naive to think that your wholly untested idea

would work better, don't you think?

JARED: Sidney's banking on the fact

Louis doesn't really care if England has a king or not,

as long as the country is weakened.

What's that expression? The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Louis offers the regicides money and men for their invasion.

They now have the backing of two powerful nations,

enough to launch an attack.

But here's the gamble.

Can Sidney really trust Louis to betray his own cousin Charles?

That's the million-dollar question.

SHEILA: And of course,

Louis makes sure news of the offer gets back to Charles.

He wants to create maximum chaos.

- Hats off to Louis, he knows how to play the game.

- This obsession with hunting these men is playing into Louis' hands.

He intends to become King of all Europe.

- Louis doesn't want to rule this shitty backwater.

He has too much taste.

- I expect he'll keep you on the throne but you'll be neutered.

- I won't have de Witt fuck me.

- Swallow your pride

and sign de Witt's deal.

- Here's what Hyde knows.

If Charles doesn't sign this deal,

he's going to war with the Dutch,

which will bankrupt the country.

- That's insulting. - It's a good...

..compromise.

- Make no mistake, Charles's back is against the wall.

But Charles has come too far to turn back now.

He won't stop until he is taken seriously by de Witt,

by Louis, by all of Europe.

- If you swallow someone's shit,

then they'll keep serving it to you.

And that,

my dear Hyde...

..means war.

SHEILA: On the 4th of March 1665,

England declares war on the Dutch.

JARED: It's the opportunity the republicans have been waiting for.

It's now or never for Ludlow.

- Against the odds, Charles has early success

in the war against the Dutch.

At Lowestoft, the English destroy a Dutch fleet.

Seventeen Dutch ships are sunk or captured.

Their admiral lieutenant is blown up.

Aboard his flagship, only five survive out of a crew of 400.

- So what do you know? Charles has won a battle.

He was right not to listen to the naysayers.

SHEILA: And more victories follow.

140 Dutch merchant ships destroyed in one raid.

A Dutch town burned to the ground,

killing over 2,000 people.

- (church bells toll)

SHEILA: Charles even turns a disaster at home

to his own advantage. - (yelling)

SHEILA: Shortly after midnight

on Sunday 2nd of September 1666,

London goes up in flames.

The fire rages for days, taking with it 13,000 houses,

93 churches, and the mighty St Paul's Cathedral.

London is a smouldering wreck.

100,000 people are left homeless.

JOSEPH: But as Londoners watch their beloved city

burn to the ground, Charles sees something else, an opportunity.

He rolls up his sleeves, grabs a bucket,

and gets amongst the public to help put out the fire.

- We will rebuild London even better than it was!

CROWD: Yeah! MAN: God save the king!

CROWD: God save the king! God save the king!

- The King wins over the crowd,

playing on his image as a man of the people.

He has never been more popular.

- Charles Stuart has the luck of the bloody devil.

Just when you think he's down and out, he finds a way through.

The republicans are running out of options.

But it's now that Algernon Sidney arrives back in Vevey

with the news of his deal with the French.

- The bloody French? They're blaming them for starting the fire

and you're about to lead a French army into London?

- For the Ludlows, Sidney might as well be suggesting a deal

with Lucifer himself. But look at it from Sidney's point of view.

The French king is the only option left.

- This isn't a popular uprising, it's a fucking war,

bankrolled by Louis' cash.

It'll make the last one look like a parlour game.

I mean, how many more thousands are going to die?

- As many as it takes! That's what revolution looks like!

- Ludlow understands the reality of war. He lived through it.

The English Civil War was by far

the bloodiest conflict the country had ever seen.

An estimated 5% of the population died during the conflict.

That's almost twice as many as the First World War.

- OK, say you invade,

say by some bloody miracle,

you defeat the army you created in your own stubborn image.

What's your plan?

- Anything is better than what's come before.

- Was Cromwell better than the king that came before him?

JARED: For idealists like Ludlow, Cromwell was a military dictator,

little better than the king he replaced.

Without popular support, any invasion

would just be replacing one dictator for another.

- I won't be your Cromwell, Sidney. You're a hot head.

I know soldiers like you.

I never put them in charge.

- It's easy to know what you're against,

much harder to know what you're for.

Maybe if they'd understood that sooner,

the republic wouldn't have fallen in the first place.

- (door opens and closes)

SHEILA: Without Ludlow, the Dutch and French support evaporates.

JOSEPH: This is great news for Charles.

His enemies are in disarray.

And now he can turn his attention to unfinished business at home.

- (door creaks open)

- (heavenly choir singing)

- You have finally destroyed her.

- Catherine is strong, but she can only hold out so long.

- Oh, dear.

You're stubborn. I am too.

See? We have more in common than you think.

We find it hard to trust.

(whispers) Can I tell you a little secret?

I've never trusted anyone in my life. Have you?

- My father.

- (groans)

Right, come here. Come.

I will protect you, as he did.

If you just give me the sign, hm?

- I accept my king as my master.

- Good, my child.

Eat.

- This is what Charles does to those closest to him.

Is it any wonder many believe Charles is the devil incarnate?

SHEILA: With his house in order and his enemies on the run,

Charles now decides to divert money from the war effort

to indulging his ever more decadent lifestyle.

- Charles should be feeling good, so why does he feel so empty?

- I've been asking myself,

since when did Barbara become so bad at cards?

It's very perplexing.

And then I realised,

she's doing it deliberately

to make me pay her debts,

so that I don't forget about her.

Well, this time...

..I've had to sell a palace.

I won't do it again.

- You will. - No, I fucking won't!

- You destroy everyone who comes close to you.

JOSEPH: Charles believes the Dutch threat is over.

So to save money, he orders the English fleet to return to port.

- It's a huge mistake. The Dutch launch a brutal attack.

In London, people hear the thunder of cannons

echoing through the streets.

On the 10th of June, Dutch soldiers land on English soil

less than 50 miles from London, which lies undefended.

The English fleet is destroyed,

and the flagship, The Royal Charles, is captured.

It's one of the greatest humiliations

in English military history.

It's total surrender.

But just as Ludlow had suspected,

the Dutch and de Witt have no intention of deposing King Charles.

Much better to have a weak king than a strong republic.

- Humiliating. There's no other word for it.

All Charles's ambitions to be a global leader,

all of it is...extinguished.

Charles set out to match Louis.

Now he finds himself bowing down to de Witt.

- (door creaks open)

- (footsteps)

JOSEPH: Charles's finances are in a dire state.

His only option is to ask Parliament for more cash

in return for humiliating concessions.

If he accepts, he would be a king in name only.

- Yet another day of rioting in the streets.

You've never been less popular with the people.

- Well, they've never been less popular with me.

- I fear they've had enough.

- Well, I certainly have.

- What have you done?

- Cousin Louis is offering me money.

- How kind of him.

If you take it, there's no turning back.

- If I do, I won't have to listen to Parliament ever again,

which means I'll never have to listen to you, Hyde.

- It's unthinkable that the King of England will be a paid agent,

ruling at the behest of the King of France.

But Charles doesn't care.

He just wants to save his own skin.

He publicly blames Hyde for the Dutch defeat, and fires him.

- (footsteps recede)

JOSEPH: Flush with Louis' secret money,

he decides to prorogue Parliament to prevent it from sitting.

He remarks that the country is much better off

now that it has one king rather than 500.

SHEILA: Parliament will never sit again in Charles's lifetime.

He is absolute monarch of England

who rules at the indulgence of the French king.

But there's one last piece of business for Charles.

The few remaining names on his kill list.

- You've been trying to kill me.

- Liar.

Show me your proof.

SHEILA: Sidney has been writing a book on government,

calling for revolution.

- (laughs) This is your proof?

My words? - Uh-huh.

You urging the people to revolt against their tyrant.

- Is that how you see yourself?

- Hm.

JOSEPH: Charles wants Sidney dead, so he finds a loophole.

- In an unprecedented move,

his book is used as evidence of treason.

The judge justifies this by saying

that in this country, 'to write is to act'.

- We invent an idol and dance around it,

though it is stained with the blood of innocent men.

Do I take it that I'm the idol?

- And my comrades' blood shall stain your soul for eternity.

- What would you have me do?

- (exhales)

Oh, it's far, far too late for you, Charles Stuart.

- It's always worth meeting a condemned man.

I enjoy the execution so much more.

My only regret is that I didn't have a chance

to sign your father's death warrant.

- (sighs)

- Does Sidney want to die? Not especially.

But what he has always wanted is to be remembered by history.

- This age...

..makes speaking the truth an act of treason.

Though everyone would rather shut their ears than hear it.

My trial and condemnation is living proof of it.

- (clang)

- (church bells toll)

SHEILA: Algernon Sidney is executed

on the 7th of December 1683.

Charles suffers a series of convulsions.

Doctors bleed him and blister him.

But he dies four days later, aged 54.

When Charles dies, the hunt for the regicides dies with him.

Of the 51 men on his kill list,

19 were condemned to life imprisonment,

16 faced execution or the assassin's bullet,

while the 16 who escaped

lived out the remainder of their lives in constant fear.

But his revenge did not come cheap.

- Charles's single-minded pursuit of his enemies

unravels not only his reign,

but the entire house of Stuart.

SHEILA: Just three years after Charles's death,

the Stuart kings are overthrown by Parliament

and replaced by a constitutional monarchy,

invited from Holland, of all places.

- So what is Charles's legacy?

Some say his failure brings about

the end of absolutist monarchy in England.

He's replaced by the very thing he's always feared,

a monarchy subordinate to parliament.

But look at it this way.

There's still a king of England, and guess what he's called?

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