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The King Charles Lecture

Given annually on a topic relating to Charles I and his times.

About the King Charles Lecture

The lectures started in 1975 and were instituted by the Friends of King Charles the Martyr, which was formed at that time to raise serious money for roof and other structural repairs. 

The Friends continued until around 2012. Organising the lectures is now the responsibility of the PCC.

Past lectures: 2010-2023

2024

‘Who are all these people?’ – the Subscription Lists of the church of King Charles the Martyr, 1676-84 and 1688-96
Dr Richard Morrice, Historic England & King Charles the Martyr

2023

Saint or Tyrant?: The Visual Image of Charles I.
David Howarth, Emeritus Professor of Edinburgh University.

2022

A “Vain Amatorious Poem”: John Milton and Charles I Between Politics and Literature
Professor Joe Moshenska, University College, Oxford

2021

“The Sweetest of Sweets”? George Herbert and the music of the 17th century church
Dr Simon Jackson, Director of Music, Peterhouse, and Director of Studies in English Literature at Hughes Hall, Cambridge

2020

The Harpsichord in the English Manner – an illustrated exploration of English Keyboard Music 1600 – 1685

Steven Devine,  Principal Keyboard Player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

2019

The cult of King Charles – the Tyrant King?
Rev Canon Professor Mark D Chapman, Professor of the History of Theology, University of Oxford and Vice-Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon

2018

King Charles and Sir Antony van Dyck
Catharine Macleod, Senior Curator of 17th century Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery

2017

Who really killed the King?
Mr John Cunningham, Chair, RTW Civic Society Local History Group

2016

Dr Richard Busby, Headmaster of Westminster School 1638-95 – Royalist throughout the Commonwealth
Eddie Smith, Formerly Under Master and Archivist, Westminster School

2015

Music in the Chapels Royal of Charles I and his Queen
Professor John Harper, University of Birmingham

2014

The Royal Actor: King Charles 1 “Eikon Basilike” and the Performance of Prayer
Dr Robert Wilcher, Honorary Fellow, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham

2013

“Comfortable Words”: The Book of Common Prayer and English Literature
Helen Wilcox, Bangor University

2012

George Herbert and the spirituality of the building
Mrs Colleen Wethered, King Charles the Martyr

2011

The King James Version: The First Four Hundred Years
Revd Robert Avery, Vicar of King Charles the Martyr

2010

The three Nineteenth Century Ministers of the King Charles Chapel Tunbridge Wells with particular reference to William Law Pope
David Bushell, King Charles the Martyr

2009
 
King Charles, His Churches and His Religion: An Ecumenical Perspective
Revd Dr David Lyall, King Charles the Martyr
 
2008
 
Samuel Pepys at the Rhenish Wine-House: The Earth, Religion, Science and What Went Wrong
Dr John Fuller, King Charles the Martyr
 
2007
 
Beyond 1606 – a 400th Anniversary Retrospective
Dr Philip Whitbourn, President, Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society
 
2006
 
Restoration and Transformation: Cathedral Music from Charles II to Queen Anne
Dr Keri Dexter, MA, MMus
 
2005
 
The Furie of the Ordnance: Gun Founding in the Weald in the Stuart Period
Jeremy Hodgkinson, Chairman Wealden Iron Research Group
 
2004
 
The Bishops of Rochester in the Restoration Church: Francis Turner and Thomas Sprat
Dr Kenneth Fincham, Reader in History, University of Kent
 
2003
 
Sir Samuel Morland and Stuart Espionage
Dr Alan Marshall, Bath Spa University College
 
2002
 
The Most Proper Day in all the Year: sermons commemorating Charles I’s death
Dr Clare Jackson, Fellow and Lecturer and Director of Studies in History, Trinity Hall, Cambridge
 
2001
 
Medicine and Society in Stuart Times
Dr Andrew Wear, Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine, University College, London
 
2000
 
The King’s Head: Portraits of King Charles I
The Hon. Mrs Jane Roberts, Curator of the Print Room, Windsor Castle
 
1999
 
Food at the Time of the Stuarts
Elizabeth Ray, former food-writer for The Observer newspaper
 
1998
 
Music at the Court of Queen Henrietta Maria
Dr Jonathan Wainwright, Professor of Music, University of Nottingham
 
1997
 
Music at Court, from James I to Charles I
Dr Peter Holman, Lecturer in Music, King’s College, London
 
1996
 
The Political Style of Charles I
Dr Richard Cust, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Birmingham
 
1995
 
Puritanism in Kent and the Steps to the Civil War
Dr Jacqueline Eales, Senior Lecturer in History, Christchurch College, Canterbury
 
1994
 
The Royal Supremacy: 1634 to the present day
Lord Conrad Russell, Professor of History, King’s College, London
 
1993
 
James I and Charles 1I, Supreme Governors of the Church of England 1603-40
Dr Kenneth Fincham, Lecturer in History, University of Kent
 
1992
 
Art and Kingship: Visual Images of Charles I
Dr Felicity Heal, Fellow, Jesus College, Oxford
 
1991
 
Order, Monarchy and the One Body Politic
Canon Iain Mackenzie, Worcester Cathedral
 
1990
 
Charles I and the Witches
Dr Clive Holmes, Fellow, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford