Hi and welcome to our Youtube channel the History Squad. Uh we're doing a little series of films,
it might go on knowing me, about this day in history. But each film
I'm looking for a twist in the tale and what we're doing today
on this day in history 30th of January 1649 the execution of Charles the first, King of England.
He'd been found guilty of treason after seven years of civil war. He'd been defeated,
put on trial. Aah, the story is so involved and it's not that simple. It wasn't just treason yeah
but that's for you to read. I'm gonna talk about his execution and the twist in the tail.
This man, he wasn't very tall at just under five foot if I remember correctly, others would say no
he was over five foot. Well after the execution he was shorter by a head. Haha, that’s a little joke
there. Now Charles the first, he walked to his execution, across James's Park, a freezing January
day, so he he'd requested an extra shirt so he didn't shiver in front of his captors. He was
escorted by a regiment of soldiers, nobody could get anywhere near him, but he walked proud yeah.
And then he had to wait, three hours. Actually just wait before he would appear on the scaffold,
he had to climb out of a window at the Banqueting House in London and then walk on this black draped
um execution, as I suppose you call it a stage almost yeah, and it got sand around by the block.
But the block itself was only about four inches so the King had to lie down. Now I questioned this
and one of the stories I'd heard many years ago was the block and the axe had been
pinched. Somebody had stolen it, so they had to improvise. Now I don't know if that's true
if you've got any input on this, comment section, let's get some conversation going, because the
poor King had to lie face down. People couldn't see him, they couldn't hear his speech because
in front of this gallows yeah was this rank upon rank of soldiers, keeping the people away.
The King had a white night cap on he tucked his hair in it as he lay down though he was gonna give
a signal I outstretch his arms and then bang the executioner can take off his head. This is a brave
man, calm yeah? But the executioner must have touched the back of his neck whether it's with the
axe or with, to tuck some hair in or something and the King said, no no I'm not ready yet. And the
executioner you know, oh I'm sorry, and all that kind of stuff and then the King, arms out, head’s
off. Executioner holds it up. Now two versions, hold it up ‘behold the head of a traitor’ yeah,
but others say he didn't say a word but he dropped the head into the soldiers at the foot of the uh
the deck there you know and they just snipped off hair and dipped their handkerchiefs in blood.
Well this is the twist in the tail. You see the body was buried so George's Chapel Windsor about
eight days later. He'd have been embalmed and it was uh encased in lead he was buried in the
tomb of Henry VIII, that should be the end of it. However in George III’s reign, so I understand,
workman disturbed it. The body was checked out. Well I've got another story and this one
I love it. You see the workman story is just he was identified as Charles the first, but there's
an alternative story that when they uncovered his face it was perfect. Well of course it had
been sealed against the air, but the second they opened the veil that covered his face and the lead
his eyes that shone blue suddenly turned white and appeared to blink blink as the body
decomposed. Bang! Can you imagine that yeah, oh my goodness me he's alive. No he's not he's dead
because somebody who was present put their hand to check that the King's
head had been severed. Have we got the right guy? And they took a piece of vertebrae out
and kept it. The body was resealed, reburied in the tomb of Henry VIII
and years later it transpires that Queen Victoria so the story goes heard that this guy had got this
bone, that he put salt in on his table for dinner guests and she ordered that it'd be replaced into
the coffin. So was Charles the first dug up twice? Was it workman who disturbed it
or is there another tale? Comment section, join in the conversation, because I love these
stories. These are stories that I've heard. Are they true yeah? So I hope you've enjoyed
our little film here, if you have thumbs up, subscribe, ding the bell. Thank you very much.