One of the most shocking events to occur in English History was when the King of England
Charles I made his way out on to the scaffold in Whitehall in London.
The axeman took the King’s head in one swift blow, and there was an audible gasp in the
crowd as many believed they had executed a man sent by God to rule over them.
But following the King’s death there was a huge amount of change in England with Oliver
Cromwell being the Lord Protector making the country Puritan and banning lots of activities
that the people enjoyed doing.
But there was a daughter of Charles I who also lived a very tragic and sad life, and
at the age of just 14 she died on the Isle of Wight at Carisbrooke Castle.
She is a forgotten princess, but what is the story of her life?
Elizabeth Stuart was born on the 28th December 1635 at St James Palace and five days later
she was baptised.
Her mother was Henrietta Maria, and her father was King Charles I.
Her maternal Grandmother Maria de Medici in 1636 attempted to have Elizabeth married to
the son of the Prince of Orange, the future William II of Orange.
However Charles I believed that the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth to the Prince of
Orange was beneath her status, and with this the King forced him to send Elizabeth’s
sister Mary the Princess Royal to marry him instead.
But following the outbreak of the English Civil War, it was a very dangerous time for
the children of the King.
Elizabeth was placed under the care of Parliament, and Parliament assigned her guardianship to
several nobles to look after her, including the 4th Earl of Pembroke Phillip Herbert.
In 1642, Parliament then assigned Elizabeth to the Earl of Northumberland and then her
brother James the Duke of York.
But Elizabeth was aware of the situation.
In 1643 she broke her leg at the age of 7, and then she moved to Chelsea where she was
given a great education and she could read in may different languages.
In 1647 she was allowed to travel to Maidenhead to meet her father and spend 2 days with him,
and she would also visit her father during his imprisonment after he had been captured.
However Charles I would then flee to Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, and it was believed
that Elizabeth helped James the Duke of York to also escape and she dressed him like a
woman.
She was considered a kind young girl, and when she was 11 she was described as ‘a
budding young beauty,’ who had ‘grace dignity intelligence and sensibility,’ and
many liked her.
She was known for being a rather sickly child, and she suffered from rickets which caused
issues with her shoulders and back, knock knees and pigeon toes.
This made it difficult for her to walk, and she had a long face with a protruding jaw,
and reddish brown hair.
Parliament removed her household in 1648, and the 12 year old Princess wrote to them
in anger.
She said, ‘ "My Lords, I account myself very miserable that I must have my servants
taken from me and strangers put to me.
You promised me that you would have a care for me; and I hope you will show it in preventing
so great a grief as this would be to me.
I pray my lords consider of it, and give me cause to thank you, and to rest.
Your loving friend, Elizabeth."
The House of Lords criticised the House of Commons and overturned the decision, but the
Commons insisted that the royal children should be raised as strict protestants, and they
were banned from joining court, and were held prisoners at St James Palace.
However in 1649, her father would be captured for the final time, and Charles I was then
sentenced to death.
Elizabeth aware of this wrote to Parliament to try and leave to go to Holland, but Parliament
refused to allow this.
On the 29th January 1649 the 13 year old Elizabeth saw her father for the final time and she
wrote that, ‘He told me he was I glad I was come, and although he had not time to
say much, yet somewhat he had to say to me which he had not to another, or leave in writing,
because he feared their cruelty was such as that they would not have permitted him to
write to me.’
It was said that, Elizabeth in her final meeting with her father the King cried so hard that
Charles I wondered if she would remember everything he told her.
She promised never to forget him, and said she would record it in writing.
She wrote two different accounts, and her father told her not to grieve and torment
herself for him,’ and she was asked to remain Protestant.
Elizabeth’s account said, ‘He bid us tell my mother that his thoughts had never strayed
from her, and that his love would be the same to the last.
Withal, he commanded me and my brother to be obedient to her; and bid me send his blessing
to the rest of my brothers and sisters, with communications to all his friends.
Then, taking my brother Gloucester on his knee, he said, 'Sweetheart, now they will
cut off thy father's head.'
And Gloucester looking very intently upon him, he said again, "Heed, my child, what
I say: they will cut off my head and perhaps make thee a king.
But mark what I say.
Thou must not be a king as long as thy brothers Charles and James do live; for they will cut
off your brothers' heads when they can catch them, and cut off thy head too at the last,
and therefore I charge you, do not be made a king by them.'
At which my brother sighed deeply, and made answer: 'I will be torn in pieces first!'
And these words, coming so unexpectedly from so young a child, rejoiced my father exceedingly.
And his majesty spoke to him of the welfare of his soul, and to keep his religion, commanding
him to fear God, and He would provide for him.
Further, he commanded us all to forgive those people, but never to trust them; for they
had been most false to him and those that gave them power, and he feared also to their
own souls.
And he desired me not to grieve for him, for he should die a martyr, and that he doubted
not the Lord would settle his throne upon his son, and that we all should be happier
than we could have expected to have been if he had lived; with many other things which
at present I cannot remember.’
Charles then gave her a bible, but following her death Elizabeth was seen as a spare part,
and Parliament basically held her prisoner.
She was housed in the care of the 2nd Earl of Leicester Robert Sidney at Penshurst Place,
and Parliament told them not to spoil the children.
But Robert’s wife Dorothy gave them great kindness, and Elizabeth even gave her a jewel
to say thank you.
Elizabeth’s brother in 1650 would be crowned Charles II of Scotland, but Parliament then
moved Elizabeth to the Isle of Wight, and at the time she complained that she was not
well enough to travel, but this was ignored.
But after she moved to the Isle of Wight, Elizabeth became ill and she caught a cold
which became pneumonia.
It was this that then killed her, and she died on the 8th September 1650 at just 14.
There were differing accounts of her last moments, and some claim that her head was
found laying on the bible that her father gave her.
In her final days she was said to have been very sad, and tragically 3 days after she
died permission was granted for her to leave to go to the Netherlands with her sister Mary.
She was then buried inside of St Thomas’ Church on the Isle of Wight and her gravestone
was marked with the initials ES, meaning Elizabeth Stuart.
However 200 years Queen Victoria ordered a sculpture of Elizabeth to be made showing
a beautiful young woman lying with her cheek on the Bible.
This was a fitting tribute to the young girl who suffered so much in her short life.
Elizabeth Stuart despite being 14 years old had been separated greatly from her parents,
and also she would see her father being executed in front of his subjects.
Charles I’s execution had a profound effect on her, and she would mourn and miss him greatly.
The last meeting they had was incredibly sad, and Elizabeth was a girl who was ill a significant
amount of time throughout her life also.
She lived a tragic life and was passed from pillar to post, before she died at a very
young age on the Isle of Wight.
Today she is considered the forgotten daughter of the executed King.
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