Charles II: Restoration of the Monarchy
Not Just the Tudors
History Hit
4.8 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From clinging to a tree while evading capture, his face blackened with soot, to triumphantly sailing home to reclaim his crown — the story of Charles II is one of survival, spectacle, and transformation.
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb guides us through the Restoration, tracing life in England from the shadow of civil war to the glittering courts of Restoration London, and discovers how intrigue, scandal, plague, and fire gave rise to an age of theatre, science, and unfettered pleasure.
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Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. Edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Want to walk the halls of Anne Boleyn's childhood home or explore the castles that made up Henry |
| 0:06.8 | the 8th's English stronghold? With a subscription to history hit, you can dive into our Tudor |
| 0:12.1 | past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. You also unlock hundreds of |
| 0:18.4 | hours of original documentaries with a brand new release |
| 0:21.8 | every single week. Covering everything from the ancient world to World War II, just visit |
| 0:28.1 | historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:34.9 | Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit, |
| 0:40.7 | the podcasts in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, |
| 0:45.2 | from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise, |
| 0:49.8 | relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft. |
| 0:54.0 | Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. |
| 1:02.4 | 25th of May 1660. |
| 1:12.6 | England is exhausted. For more than a decade, the nation has endured grim austerity. |
| 1:16.6 | Puritan rule, shuttered theatres, joyless Sundays, |
| 1:20.6 | and the empty promises of an order that delivered only shadows. |
| 1:25.6 | The people are restless, weary, hungry for life again, |
| 1:30.2 | and now, at last, change is coming. |
| 1:35.1 | Ships crowd the waters of the English Channel. |
| 1:38.1 | Aboard one of them, once called the Naisby, |
| 1:40.5 | but now renamed the Royal Charles in honour of its passenger, |
| 1:43.9 | is a man who embodies the nation's hopes. |
| 1:47.0 | Tall, dark-haired, not yet 30 years old, |
... |
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