King Charles’s decapitation was scheduled for Tuesday, 30 January 1649. Two of his children remained in England under the control of the Parliamentarians: Elizabeth and Henry. They were permitted to visit him on 29 January, and he bid them a tearful farewell. The following morning, he called for two shirts to prevent the cold weather causing any noticeable shivers that the crowd could have mistaken for fear.
He walked under guard from St James’s Palace, where he had been confined, to the Palace of Whitehall, where an execution scaffold was erected in front of the Banqueting House. Charles was separated from spectators by large ranks of soldiers, and his last speech reached only those with him on the scaffold.
At about 2 p.m., Charles put his head on the block after saying a prayer and signalled the executioner when he was ready by stretching out his hands; he was then beheaded with one clean stroke. According to observer Philip Henry, a moan “as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again” rose from the assembled crowd, some of whom then dipped their handkerchiefs in the king’s blood as a memento.
The executioner was masked and disguised, and there is debate over his identity. The commissioners approached Richard Brandon, the common hangman of London, but he refused, at least at first, despite being offered £200. It is possible he relented and undertook the commission after being threatened with death, but there are others who have been named as potential candidates, including George Joyce, William Hulet and Hugh Peters. The clean strike, confirmed by an examination of the king’s body at Windsor in 1813,suggests that the execution was carried out by an experienced headsman.
It was common practice for the severed head of a traitor to be held up and exhibited to the crowd with the words “Behold the head of a traitor!”. Although Charles’s head was exhibited, the words were not used, possibly because the executioner did not want his voice recognised. On the day after the execution, the king’s head was sewn back onto his body, which was then embalmed and placed in a lead coffin.
Cromwell was said to have visited Charles’s coffin, sighing “Cruel necessity!” as he did so. The commission refused to allow Charles’s burial at Westminster Abbey, so his body was conveyed to Windsor on the night of 7 February. He was buried in the Henry VIII vault in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in private on 9 February 1649. The king’s son, Charles II, later planned for an elaborate royal mausoleum to be erected in Hyde Park, London, but it was never built.