Publius wrote:
King Charles II was fairly successful as a monarch. Ill fortunes appear to be attached to odd-numbered kings named Charles and even-numbered kings named James, although to be fair, both King Charles I and King James II were Stuarts, not Windsors. In any event, the Prince of Wales could be prevented from acceding by simply rendering him ineligible to receive sacraments in the Church of England; he could marry a divorcée, apostatise to Islam, &c.
PUBLIUS
I do of course refer to Charles 1 as to silly superstitions
In regards to Charles 11, he was a fairly lack lustre monarch given that for a good chunk of his life regaining the throne had been his occupation and became the end in an of itself. Once he had the throne he left effective governance to Clarendon and became an amused observer more than an executive monarch.
The reign of Charles 11 was also noted for lack of funds which caused a less than glorious end to the Duch war and the humiliation of the Medway raid with the loss of two battleships one of which..the fleet flagship, was captured.
While all this was happening Charles was more concerned with his misstreess eloping with the Duke of Richmond!.
This is quite apart from the French proposal that Charles 11 become Catholic in return for money and troops to put down any rebellion to this event! and lets not forget the rest of the proposed {secret} treaty whereby in return for for English assistance in crushin the Duch the English would get continental bases..negotiations carried out by two known Catholics...This is known as the treaty of Dover.A treaty that was counter to the national interest is not a good sign of an effective monarch.
Charles was hardly a successfull monarch..average on a good day
perhaps
As to the Prince of wales and what could debar him from the throne, I think you will find that any existing law regarding devorcee's, or the intendee's religeon would be set aside in this day and age and would not form a barrier to Charles becoming King.
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet
--------------