Recently we have been hearing talk of a “Restoration Weekend”. The term is not well known on this side of the Atlantic, and I have been speculating as to what might go on at one of these weekends. Perhaps it was something of this kind:
The Restoration of the English monarchy under Charles II was a Good Thing. Among others, “pretty, witty” Nell Gwynn said what a pleasure it was to be under Charles II. Here is some historical background from – inevitably – Sellar and Yeatman’s 1066 And All That:
With the ascension of Charles I to the throne, we come to ….the utterly memorable Struggle between the Cavaliers (Wrong but Wromantic) and the Roundheads (Right and Repulsive).
Charles I was a Cavalier King and therefore had a small pointed beard, long flowing curls, and a large, flat, flowing hat and gay attire. The Roundheads, on the other hand, were clean-shaven and wore tall, conical hats, and sombre garments. Under these circumstances a Civil War was inevitable.
[…]
When Charles I had been defeated he was brought to trial by the Rump Parliament – so called because it had been sitting for such a long time – and was found guilty of being defeated in a war against himself, which was, of course, a form of High Treason. He was therefore ordered by Cromwell to go and have his head cut off (it was, the Roundheads pointed out, the wrong shape, anyway). So romantic was Charles, however, that this made little difference to him and it is very memorable that he walked and talked Half an hour after his Head was cut off.
[…]
Charles II was always very merry and was therefore not so much a king as a Monarch. [He] was famous for his wit and his invention. Among the latter was an unbridled and merry way of behaving and writing plays…Many of Charles’s witty remarks were of an unbridled nature and are therefore (fortunately) not memorable.
Roundheads and Cavaliers have not gone away, according to self-confessed Roundhead Robert Crampton, writing in The Times at the time of the Spectator shenanigans and the downfall of former Home Secretary David Blunkett. Blunkett “paid the price for being the lone Roundhead riding with a troop of Spectator Cavaliers”:
As in the 1640s, dividing the country in the Noughties into Cavalier and Roundhead camps is not purely a question of class or money, but also one of taste and temperament. David Blunkett allowed himself to be taken prisoner by people who play by different rules. His success, like that of all Roundheads, was built on hard work, moral probity, mastery of detail, self-denial, self-effacement, above all on self-discipline. Cavaliers aren’t made that way. They rely on flamboyance, connections, delegating the menial tasks to others, self-promotion, the big picture, big gestures, taking risks . . . and having really interesting hair.
The Cavalier-Roundhead divide has been with us for centuries, but it is especially relevant now that the old upper-lower class distinctions, the old left-right political distinctions and indeed the old high church-low church religious distinctions are much less stark than they were. And, while Cavaliers tend to be wealthier than Roundheads, the divide isn’t just about money. Bill Gates, the wealthiest man in the world, is a Roundhead (although, thanks in part to the export of many English revolutionaries there after the Restoration, most Americans are). And you could argue that the blond streaks, ear-rings, tattoos and pastel sportswear on show on estates up and down the kingdom are the hallmarks of would-be Cavaliers.
Gordon Brown and Margaret Thatcher were Roundheads, according to Crampton. David Cameron is an obvious Cavalier. I would class George Bush as a Roundhead and Bill Clinton as a Cavalier. Boris Johnson is the Cavalier par excellence.
Which are you?
