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23 August 1628
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, is stabbed to death by John Felton in Portsmouth. Felton, a disgruntled soldier, was part of one of Buckingham's unsuccessful expeditions – this time against France. Although Felton is a hero in the public's eyes for having killed the hated royal favourite, he is condemned to death and hanged at Tyburn on 29 November. — • — Felton had purged the body politic, and was therefore an agent of justice. He had wiped away the 'slime' from the sovereign's eyes, as [a] ballad put it. Handbills distributed before Buckingham's death had asked: 'Who rules the Kingdom? The King. Who rules the King? The Duke. Who rules the Duke? The Devil.' Charles never forgot the bitterness of the blow. Whereas Buckingham had been for King James an idolised love-object, he had become for Charles friend, companion, brother and counsellor, so necessary to his existence as to be a second self. His loss left a void over which Charles's enemies (his own people) jeered and mocked. From A Century of Troubles by Stevie Davies (Channel 4 Books) |
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