Charles suspected of plotting with Scottish nobles to split Covenanters

Charles's reign began with an unpopular friendship with George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who used his influence against the wishes of other nobility. Buckingham was assassinated in 1628. There was ongoing tension with parliament over money - made worse by the costs of war abroad.

Charles suspected, probably correctly, that some members of the English Parliament had colluded with the invading Scots.

The next day, Charles denied any involvement in the plot, and was soon forced to allow an investigation into the matter. Charles was left with no option but to submit to the Covenanters' demands. He assented to the abolition of episcopal polity in Scotland, and appointed Covenanting nobles to the Privy Council of Scotland and other positions, before returning to England in November to face the increasing threat of civil war.

Charles lived for several years in exile with his Scottish mistress, Clementina Walkinshaw (later known as Countess von Alberstrof), whom he met, and may have begun a relationship with, during the 1745 rebellion. She was suspected by many of Charles's supporters of being a spy planted by the Hanoverian government of Great Britain.

One of his very first actions was to pass the Act of Revocation, aimed at bringing former church lands under the control of the Crown, As most of that land was by owned by the nobles, this caused immediate hostility among some of the most influential men in Scotland. However, far worse was to come. Charles infuriated the Scots when he finally got round to being crowned as King of Scots at St Giles in Edinburgh in 1633.

A great fire, however, destroyed ... the chief conspirators fled. Protestant politicians such as Algernon Sydney and the Lord William Russell were implicated in the plot and executed for high treason, albeit on very flimsy evidence....

For just over a year King Charles I was held captive on the Isle of Wight, primarily at Carisbrooke Castle. From there, he partook in numerous negotiations with the English and Scottish parliaments, failed in several escape attempts, and only heard afterwards about the uprisings of the Second ...