This is the second programme in our two-part series asking why England’s only experiment with Republicanism spectacularly disintegrated within a few months of the death of Oliver Cromwell, the first Lord Protector?
You will hear from author and historian, Dr Henry Reece, Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, that the return of Charles II was not inevitable. In fact, as he tells publisher Mike Gibbs, the Rump Parliament had deeply rooted political support in a war-weary country which had little interest in returning to the old order. So why then, in a matter of months, was Charles II back in London and on the throne.
