The Royal Oak - An English pub name with many European links

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The Royal Oak is the second most common name for pubs in England. There are around 400 of them.

They are named after the oak tree in which Charles II hid after the battle of Worcester in 1651 during the English Civil War.

According to the story, the future king hid with a companion for a whole day in an oak tree near Boscobel house in Shropshire to avoid the patrolling Roundheads, as the soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army were known. After escaping detection, he was moved through various loyalist safe-houses, often disguised as a peasant or servant, finally finding safe passage to France. His main protector during this escape was Henry Wilmot, more about him later.

Charles II, known as The Merry Monarch (partly because of his seven mistresses), was one of Britain's most interesting kings with connections to many important European characters and events. He can be viewed as a total European.

His father, Charles I had been beheaded in 1649 when Charles was 19. He was subsequently declared King of Scotland, while still in exile. His mother was Henrietta Maria, the daughter of Henry IV of France, which made him the cousin of Louis XIV, The Sun King.

Charles married Catherine of Braganza, the daughter of the Portuguese king John IV. Portugal had been at war with Spain, aided by Louis XIV until Louis signed the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, which also handed the region of Roussillon to France.

Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660 having spent 9 years in exile in France and The Netherlands, with whom he promptly went to war in the second of three Anglo-Dutch wars. In between the second and third, Charles joined the Triple Alliance with Sweden and the Dutch Republic to fight his French cousin!

When he wasn't busy fighting wars with his neighbours, former allies and relatives, Charles II founded the British East India company, which became the launchpad for the British Colonial Empire. He also formed the Hudson Bay Company, which became North America's oldest corporation.

He is remembered in the United States by taking New Amsterdam from the Dutch and renaming it New York after his brother the Duke of York, who succeeded him as James II. Charles gave his own name to Charlston, South Carolina.

Charles, when not fighting wars of having illegitimate children with his mistresses, was a bit of a geek. He founded both the Royal Society and the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

The story of the Royal Oak was commemorated by an official public holiday "Royal Oak Day" or "Oak Apple Day" in England from 1660 to 1859. It was the 29th May.

Henry Wilmot, Charles' loyal protector, advisor and companion, was rewarded with the title of first Earl of Rochester. His son, John Wilmot. became the famous libertarian satirist who wrote this poetic summary of Charles II. We have a pretty, witty king,

Whose word no man relies on,

He never said a foolish thing,

And never did a wise one