Execution of charles I

1649: the execution of Charles I The execution of King Charles I is considered one of the most significant and controversial events in English history. His beheading occurred on 30th January 1649 outside Whitehall, in London. It was the culmination of the political and military conflicts of the Civil War. Charles had been captured and put on trial. On 27th January the parliamentarian court declared him guilty of trying to maintain ‘unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will, and to overthrow the rights and liberties of the people’. He was sentenced to death. A large crowd came to watch the execution. Charles gave his last speech on the scaffolding. He declared his innocence and claimed he was a ‘martyr of the people’.