Castle set for ‘Royal’ visit
King Charles I to pop in during tour
King Charles I will this weekend make his first return to Stirling since 1633.
The king, who visited the city following his coronation, will be brought back to life by an English DJ as he bids to take his alter ego around historical sites once visited by the former monarch.
Daniel Williams (40), from Sutton Coldfield, is visiting the sites across the country related to King Charles I, and he does this in costume and character as the king himself.
Charles was king of England, Scotland and Ireland, whose conflicts with Parliament led to the English Civil War.
Daniel, a music producer and DJ, says his passion for history has lead to him re-creating the character to try and spread knowledge about his life.
He said: “I have never been to Stirling before so with it being one of the places that Charles visited, I wanted to come.
“I started doing this in December and since then it has grown and grown.
“I’ve got a love of history and I was going around visiting historical places and found much was about Henry VIII and Tudors.
“I was on a visit to Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight when I heard that King Charles had been held prisoner there and I wondered how a king could become a prisoner.
“I discovered that a lot of places that I had been to, Charles had been to as well.”
In 1633, King Charles stayed at Stirling Castle for two days.
The English Civil War was fought between Royalists and Parliamentarians between 1642 and 1651.
Between 1645 and 1646 the Royalists were defeated by an alliance between parliament and the Scots.
In 1646, Charles surrendered to the Scots, who, in exchange for £100,000, handed him over to Parliament in January 1647.
He was held under house arrest at Holdenby House in Northamptonshire until he escaped in June of that year.
Hew fled to the Isle of Wight in November of that year, after having made contact with the Parliamentary Governor of the Isle of Wight, whom he believed to be sympathetic.
However, he was imprisoned at Carisbrooke Castle and later moved to Windsor Castle.
He was placed on trial for treason and was beheaded on January 30 1649, aged 48.
Daniel sports the King Charles I costume and visits the historical sites free of charge.
On Saturday, he will head to Dunfermline Palace, where King Charles was born, in the morning and anticipates appearing at Stirling Castle at around 1pm.