“He might have shielded himself from the cold and the wind by walking up the length of the Privy Gallery, but he’d had quite enough of Whitehall, so instead he went outside, crossed a couple of courts, and emerged at the front of the Banqueting House, directly beneath where Charles I had had his head lopped off, lo these many years ago. Cromwell’s men had kept him prisoner in St. James’s and then walked him across the Park for his decapitation. Four-year-old Daniel, sitting on Drake’s shoulders in the plaza, had watched every one of the Kings’s steps” – Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver (2003)

A young Daniel Waterhouse sits atop his father’s shoulders

The execution of Charles I occurred on Tuesday 30 January 1649, depicted as rather mild day (one of many inaccuracies) in the 1970 film Cromwell from whence these images are taken. Charles I, played by Alec Guinness is shown addressing the crowd in this scene, wearing a white shirt and a cape, delivering the lines recorded by historians, “I shall go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be”.

In reality, historians record that Charles wore two shirts (to prevent shivers being mistaken for fear) and this waistcoat, shown in the British Archives at the beginning of the BBC’s The Seven Ages of Britain – The Age of Revolution (viewable online from TVO.org).

In introducing the waistcoat, host David Dimbleby notes that it is made of silk, and points out the details of the stitching and the buttons.

Then he notes the brown stains on the front. These are the blood stains from that day three hundred and sixty two years ago.

One can see from these images that Charles I was a small man, reportedly 5’3″.