Prince Charles and the Second Session of the 1621 Parliament

Abstract

This article re-examines the role of Charles, Prince of Wales, in the second session of the 1621 Parliament. Taking as its starting point two hitherto undated letters from the prince, it argues that Charles played an important role in the session as the main link between the king and Buckingham, absent in Newmarket, and the privy councillors deciding on government strategy in the house of commons. Charles's efforts at try to steer the session towards a successful conclusion - in which the parliament would provide and pledge itself to support a war to recover the Palatinate should that become necessary - call into question a recent interpretation which sees the king as bent on dissolving the parliament from the start. However, his disparaging comments on the conduct of the Commons - particularly its disapproval of the negotiations for his marriage to the Spanish infanta - suggest that even as Prince of Wales he was coming to share his father's view that there were elements in the lower house which presented a ‘popular’ threat to the power of monarchy.