Category: The King's Man

Friendship Forged in Battle - Meet THE GUARDIANS OF THE CROWN

11/7/2016

Worcester - 2nd September 1651

‘We’re not going to lose.’ Daniel declared. ‘We are the guardians of the crown. We’ll fight for the King and for glory and honour,’ he continued, oblivious to the cynical silence of his audience.
Jonathan considered the boy for a moment, seeing himself in the youthful romanticism of a cause in which he had believed so passionately, but wanting desperately to prevent the futile loss of another life.
‘Daniel, war has nothing to do with glory and honour,’ he said and leaned forward, fixing the boy with a hard gaze. ‘Have you ever smelt the stench of death? Have you ever seen a man with his guts hanging out and still living or a man with his face shot away? Have you watched a friend die of gangrene?’
Jonathan knew his words were brutal, and Daniel paled and swallowed. But he met Jonathan’s gaze.
‘I was there when they took and burned our home,’ the young man said. ‘I saw men die. I saw my father killed.’ He glanced at his brother. ‘He died in Kit’s arms. So, yes, I have seen death.’ (Excerpt from BY THE SWORD)

Meet The Guardians of the Crown...

England 1651... Three young men came together at Worcester for one last battle, one last attempt to regain the throne of England for the exiled young King, Charles II. This one battle will mark a turning point in all their lives...

JONATHAN THORNTON (BY THE SWORD): Exiled and hunted for his loyalty to the King's cause, he has returned to England to garner support for the cause of the young King. Haunted by the demons of his past, Jonathan risks death at every turn and brings danger to those who love him.
KIT LOVELL (THE KING'S MAN): A cynical and disillusioned Royalist who passes his time cheating at cards, living off his wealthy and attractive mistress, and plotting the death of Oliver Cromwell. He will abandon his honour to save his brother...
DANIEL LOVELL (EXILE'S RETURN): An idealistic youth in 1651, bound to concepts of honour and vengeance, he will return to England in 1659 after years of imprisonment, exile and torture, determined to kill the man who murdered his father. But his plans for revenge must wait, as the King has one last mission for him.

And for the women who love them, life will be a bitter hand to mouth existence...
KATE ASHLEY (BY THE SWORD): Will find her loyalty to the Parliamentary cause tested when she inherits responsibility for the estate of the Royalist Thornton family. To protect the people she cares about, she will need all her wits to restore its fortunes and fend off the ever-present threat of greedy neighbours.
THAMSINE GRANVILLE (THE KING'S MAN): Penniless and friendless, Thamsine Granville has lost everything. Terrified, and alone, she hurls a piece of brick at the coach of Oliver Cromwell. Only the quick thinking of a stranger saves her from death but Kit Lovell will plunge her into a world of espionage and betrayal – a world that has no room for falling in love.
AGNES FLETCHER (EXILE'S RETURN): Following the death of her lover, his two orphaned children are torn from her care by their scheming guardian. Agnes desperately seeks anyone willing to accompany her on a perilous journey to save the children and return them to her care.

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Reliving the Battle of Worcester

9/4/2016

This post is a repost of a blog I wrote following my 2015 visit to the city of Worcester, site of the last full scale pitched battle on English soil - 3 September 1651.
For the supporters of the young King Charles II it was the end of their dreams of restoring the monarchy and the beginning of almost ten long year of 'republican' rule known as the Interregnum, ending with the restoration of Charles II in 1660.
My 3 book series GUARDIANS OF THE CROWN covers this period of the Interregnum and for the three main characters (Jonathan - BY THE SWORD, Kit - THE KING'S MAN and Daniel - EXILE'S RETURN) the Battle of Worcester defined the rest of their lives.
On a canal bank in Worcester, I met with my 'imaginary friends' and we walked their battle...

The 3rd September marked the 364th anniversary of the Battle of Worcester, the defining event of the Guardians of the Crown series which begins with the battle itself (BY THE SWORD).

Worcester Cathedral

My family has had a long, long association with Worcester, most notably boasting a High Sheriff of Worcester (my great grandfather) and a well respected MP and County Councillor (my grandfather) and my father served under the colours of the now defunct Worcestershire Regiment.

In May this year I returned (or, in a sense, went home) - on a canal boat (a whole other story!). My last visit to Worcester had been some twenty plus years ago when I was researching a little story I was writing about the Battle of Worcester. That little story became BY THE SWORD... which flowed on to THE KING'S MAN and on to Book 3, EXILES' RETURN (which comes out next February). I wanted to write about a group of friends/comrades and what this seminal battle of the English Civil War meant to them and their families.

Our canal boat traverses the Sidbury Lock - The Commandery on the left

We moored our canal boat below the Sidbury Lock within spitting distance of The Commandery and the site of what was once the Sidbury Gate through the walls of the old city (now long since gone). Having an afternoon free, I abandoned my travelling companions and stepped down on to the tow path of the canal (which had not been there in 1651). They were waiting for me - Jonathan Thornton, Giles Longley, Kit Lovell and his brother Daniel, the Guardians of Crown, my companions from the past and they would be my guides for the afternoon.

AS outside The Commandery

We began with The Commandery (that was its name long before the events of 1651). In its past it had been a merchant's house, a hospital and in 1651 became the Headquarters for Charles II.

(Jonathan) attended the meetings at the Commandery and concluded the house had been wrongly named. He saw precious little evidence of command taking place within its walls...In the endless councils that took place in the hall the young King found himself assailed from all sides by conflicting advice. (BY THE SWORD)

From The Commandery we set off up the hill to Fort Royal where a royalist battery had been established to defend the approach to Worcester along the Sidbury road. I won't go into the details of the battle itself (I've written about it elsewhere...click HERE). Suffice to say that while the royalists held Fort Royal, Cromwell had taken Red Hill and Perry Hill. The king himself led an attack on Red Hill but was driven back to the city. Fort Royal fell, the royalist defenders slaughtered to a man and the guns turned on the city itself.

My American readers may be interested to know that it was on this hill that an oak tree was planted in commemoration of a visit by Thomas Jefferson who is quoted as reminding all Englishmen that it was at Worcester that the concept of Liberty was fought for... you can read his quote on the plaque below...

My companions led me back down the hill toward Sidbury Gate...

The Parliament guns had been brought to bear on the gate, turning the retreat into

wholesale slaughter. Amidst the screaming of man and beast, the carnage of blood and guts and with shot pounding into the walls and the city, the King managed to get back through the gate. Jonathan followed through the confusion, scrambling over an overturned oxen cart to reach his King. (BY THE SWORD)

No trace of the gate or walls remain today (destroyed for the building of the canal in the 1760s), just one small plaque on a wall marks its existence. We turned into the city and down one of the last remaining authentic city streets - Friar Street (curse those 70s redevelopments!). Still lined with half timbered houses, it is only here one can still get a feeling for 17th century Worcester.

Wilmot pulled at Jonathanâ€™s arm and they both ran up Friar Street, toward the Kingâ€™s lodging. Jonathan took only one look back to see Giles, fighting like a virago, a small defence against the mass of red-coated soldiers who now flooded into the city from all gates except one: St Martinâ€™s Gate stood close by the Kingâ€™s lodging and remained as yet unbreached. (BY THE SWORD)

Friar Street

It was here in Friar Street that Jonathan, Giles, Kit and Daniel lodged in a house that may have looked a little like Greyfriars (now a National Trust property). Here they played cards on the night before the battle.

Another evening at the Commandery had ended in bickering and Jonathan trudged wearily back up Friar Street to his billet ... In the downstairs parlour of the large, half-timbered house, Giles played cards with Kit Lovell, who had recently rejoined them. They were both fiendish card players, with a tendency to cheat, and Jonathan declined their invitation to join them. (BY THE SWORD)

The parlour of Greyfriars where the Guardians played cards on the night before the battle... maybe...

Further up Friar Street we came to the building now known as The Charles II house (and rather ignomiously - a pie shop) which

had been the King's Lodgings and from which he escaped.

They found the King within his lodgings, watching uncomprehendingly as Buckingham burned papers on a hastily lit fire.

â€˜We must go, Your Majesty,â€™ Wilmot said.

The King looked up at his old friend and advisor. â€˜Leslie will come,â€™ he insisted. â€˜We will rally again.â€™

â€˜No, Your Majesty,â€™ Buckingham spoke. â€˜Itâ€™s too late. Leslie has failed us, Hamilton is fallen. We must away while we still have breath in our bodies.â€™

The noise of the fighting, drawing closer up the street, brought the King to his feet. With the Parliamentâ€™s soldiers at the front door of the house, the King and his party left by the back. Taking the nearest horses they fled, at a hard gallop, through St Martinâ€™s Gate, the gate that led the way to the north. (BY THE SWORD)

Here we parted company, my imaginary friends returning to the past, and I trudged back through the streets of Worcester to meet my real friends at the Worcester Porcelain museum (in what had been a thriving factory on my last visit).

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Friendship Forged in Battle - Meet THE GUARDIANS OF THE CROWN

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Reliving the Battle of Worcester

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Reliving the Battle of Worcester

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