Today is Monday, May 25, 2020.

On this day in 1659, Lord Richard Cromwell resigned from the protectorate of England, ushering in a new era of unrest. Welcome to today in True Crime, a parcast original.

Today we're covering the fall of Lord Richard Cromwell,

the son of notorious English Civil War leader Oliver Cromwell.

Let's go back to the afternoon of May 25, 1659 in the chambers of White Hall Palace.

Lord Richard Cromwell peaked out the upper story window of the enormous building he currently called home.

He noticed the brigade of Army officers milling about in the courtyard below.

Then, somberlyly he turned back to his small

writing desk to consider the document waiting for his signature. It was a letter of

resignation addressed to Parliament and he'd already summoned the messenger on horseback for the delivery.

Richard knew he would sign the document, hence his call for the messenger, but he simply couldn't

bring himself to do it yet. He was still the Lord Protector, just as his father had been.

Unfortunately, he was not the Lord protector his father had been.

Richard did not have his father's strong military bearing,

nor did he command the respect of the army leaders.

Richard couldn't even leave his own house for fear of the soldiers below.

They'd had him under house arrest for days and destroyed his royal seal too, which

meant that officially he no longer had the power to conduct any government business. There were already jokes about Queen Dick and

tumbledown Dick circulating among the rough military men. The whole situation had started when Richard tried to

convene a new parliament after his father's death. Richard had wanted to bring

together the disgruntled citizens and the powerful military,

but the two camps were constantly suspicious of each other.

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