The 351st Anniversary of the King's execution took place on Sunday 30th January from 2 pm for 2:30 pm in the King Charles I Room, Kidderminster Town Hall, hosted by President Tony Bishop.
Royal News-maker
If the paparazzi had been invented in the 17th century, King Charles would have been a favourite target for their cameras. He would have been the news-creator of his day, Association President and veteran newspaperman Tony Bishop surmised at this year's wreath-laying.
They would have been exciting times for pressmen, he told the gathering at Kidderminster Town Hall on 30th January, the 351st anniversary of the King's execution.
The press would have loved Charles. He upset his subjects by imposing taxes without the authority of parliament; he connived with the Scots, escaped from custody and started two wars. He also set up the Court of Star Chamber – no doubt refusing admission to the press.
He went to his death with calmness and fortitude, and came to be revered as a saint and martyr. Every Englishman, said the writers of the time, remembered where he was when the axe fell in Whitehall – just as everyone remembered, 314 years later, the day of President John F Kennedy's death.
A dozen Old Carolians, with the Vicar of Kidderminster, the Rev Canon Owain Bell, were at the ceremony. They were received by the Mayor, Cllr Lynn Hyde, who opened the Town Hall, on a Sunday, especially for the occasion.