Editing Charles II of England (section)

== Later years ==
Charles faced a political storm over his brother James, a Catholic, being next in line to the throne. The prospect of a Catholic monarch was vehemently opposed by the [[1st Earl of Shaftesbury]] (a former member of the Cabal, which had fallen apart in 1673). Lord Shaftesbury's power base was strengthened when the House of Commons of 1679 introduced the [[Exclusion Bill]], which sought to exclude the Duke of York from the [[Succession to the British throne|line of succession]]. Some even sought to confer the Crown on the Protestant [[Duke of Monmouth]], the eldest of Charles's illegitimate children. The ''Abhorrers''—those who thought the Exclusion Bill was abhorrent—were named [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]] (after a term for dispossessed Irish Catholic bandits), while the ''Petitioners''—those who supported a petitioning campaign in favour of the Exclusion Bill—were called [[British Whig Party|Whigs]] (after a term for rebellious Scottish Presbyterians).<ref>{{harvnb|Hutton|1989|pp=373, 377, 391}}; {{harvnb|Miller|1991|pp=310–320}}.</ref>

===Absolute monarch===
Fearing that the Exclusion Bill would be passed, and bolstered by some acquittals in the continuing Plot trials, which seemed to him to indicate a more favourable public mood towards Catholicism, Charles dissolved the English Parliament, for a second time that year, in mid-1679. Charles's hopes for a more moderate Parliament were not fulfilled; within a few months he had dissolved Parliament yet again, after it sought to pass the Exclusion Bill. When a new Parliament assembled at Oxford in March 1681, Charles dissolved it for a fourth time after just a few days.<ref>{{harvnb|Hutton|1989|pp=376–401}}; {{harvnb|Miller|1991|pp=314–345}}.</ref> During the 1680s, however, popular support for the Exclusion Bill ebbed, and Charles experienced a nationwide surge of loyalty. Lord Shaftesbury was prosecuted (albeit unsuccessfully) for treason in 1681 and later fled to Holland, where he died. For the remainder of his reign, Charles ruled without Parliament.{{sfn|Hutton|1989|pp=430–441}}
[[File:Charles II touching the scrofulous (crop).jpeg|thumb|Charles performing the [[royal touch]]; engraving by [[Robert White (engraver)|Robert White]], 1684]]
Charles's opposition to the Exclusion Bill angered some Protestants. Protestant conspirators formulated the [[Rye House Plot]], a plan to murder him and the Duke of York as they returned to London after horse races in [[Newmarket, Suffolk|Newmarket]]. A great fire, however, destroyed Charles's lodgings at Newmarket, which forced him to leave the races early, thus inadvertently avoiding the planned attack. News of the failed plot was leaked.{{sfn|Fraser|1979|p=426}} Protestant politicians such as the [[Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex]], [[Algernon Sydney]], [[William Russell, Lord Russell|Lord Russell]] and the Duke of Monmouth were implicated in the plot. Essex slit his own throat while imprisoned in the Tower of London; Sydney and Russell were executed for high treason on very flimsy evidence; and the Duke of Monmouth went into exile at the court of William of Orange. Lord Danby and the surviving Catholic lords held in the Tower were released and the king's Catholic brother, James, acquired greater influence at court.<ref>{{harvnb|Hutton|1989|pp=420–423}}; {{harvnb|Miller|1991|pp=366–368}}.</ref> Titus Oates was convicted and imprisoned for defamation.{{sfn|Fraser|1979|p=437}}

Thus through the last years of Charles's reign, his approach towards his opponents changed, and he was compared by Whigs to the contemporary Louis XIV of France, with his form of government in those years termed "slavery". Many of them were prosecuted and their estates seized, with Charles replacing judges and sheriffs at will and packing juries to achieve conviction. To destroy opposition in London, Charles first disenfranchised many Whigs in the 1682 municipal elections, and in 1683 the [[Ancient borough#Charters of incorporation|London charter]] was forfeited. In retrospect, the use of the judicial system by Charles (and later his brother and heir James) as a tool against opposition helped establish the idea of [[separation of powers]] between the judiciary and the Crown in Whig thought.<ref>Marshall J. (2013). Whig Thought and the Revolution of 1688–91. In: Harris, T., & Taylor, S. (Eds.). (2015). ''The final crisis of the Stuart monarchy: the revolutions of 1688–91 in their British, Atlantic and European contexts'' (Vol. 16), Chapter 3. Boydell & Brewer.</ref>

=== Death ===
Charles suffered a sudden [[apoplectic fit]] on the morning of 2 February 1685, and died four days later at the [[Palace of Whitehall]], at 11:45&nbsp;am, aged 54.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1979|p=450}}; {{harvnb|Hutton|1989|p=443}}.</ref> The suddenness of his illness and death led to suspicion of poison in the minds of many, including one of the royal doctors, but a more modern medical analysis has held that the symptoms of his final illness are similar to those of [[uraemia]], a clinical syndrome due to kidney dysfunction.{{sfn|BMJ|1938}} Charles had a laboratory among his many interests where, prior to his illness, he had been experimenting with [[mercury (element)|mercury]]. Mercuric poisoning can produce irreversible kidney damage, but the case for that being a cause of his death is unproven.{{sfn|Fraser|1979|pp=586–587}} In the days between his collapse and his death, Charles endured a variety of torturous treatments, including [[bloodletting]], [[laxative|purging]] and [[cupping therapy|cupping]], in the hope of effecting a recovery,{{sfn|Roberts|2015}} which may have exacerbated his uraemia through dehydration, rather than helping to alleviate it.<ref>{{citation |last1=Aronson |first1=J. K. |last2= Heneghan |first2=C. |title=The death of King Charles II |date=17 October 2018 |publisher=Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) |location=Oxford|url=https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/news/views/the-death-of-king-charles-ii |access-date=4 May 2021}}</ref>

On his deathbed, Charles asked his brother, James, to look after his mistresses: "be well to [[Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth|Portsmouth]], and let not poor [[Nell Gwyn|Nelly]] starve".{{sfn|Fraser|1979|p=456}}<!--This is a paraphrase used by Fraser--> He told his courtiers, "I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such a time a-dying",{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=73}} and expressed regret at his treatment of his wife. On the last evening of his life he was received into the Catholic Church, in the presence of Father [[John Huddleston]], though the extent to which he was fully conscious or committed, and with whom the idea originated, is unclear.{{sfn|Hutton|1989|pp=443, 456}} He was buried in [[Westminster Abbey]] "without any manner of pomp"{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=73}} on 14 February.{{sfn|Fraser|1979|p=459}}

Charles was succeeded by his brother James II and VII.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.royal.uk/charles-ii |title=Charles II (r. 1660–1685) |publisher=royal.uk |access-date=7 May 2023}}</ref>