The King Charles Lecture
The next King Charles Lecture will take place on Saturday 28 January, 2023.
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 11 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
1989
The History of the Royal Observatory and Hurstmonceux Castle
Adam Perkins, Archives Office, Royal Greenwich Observatory
1988
English Baroque Church Decoration
Robert Chitham, Head of Historic Buildings Division, English Heritage
1987
Architectural Tastes in Stuart Times
Dr Philip Whitbourn, Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England
1986
The Opponents of King Charles
Jasper Ridley, Historian and Barrister
1985
Caroline Piety
Revd Dr Gordon Huelin
1984
King Charles: Myth or Reality
John Cooper, Head of Education, National Portrait Gallery
1983
The Sanctity of King Charles
Revd J M Charles-Roux, St Eltheldreda R C Church, Ely Place, City of London
1982
English Oak Furniture
Leonard Lassalle, antiques dealer, The Pantiles
1981
The Caroline Divines or Caroline Piety
Canon Paul Welsby
1980
Kent and East Sussex before the Civil War
Andrew Reekes, History Master, Tonbridge School
1979
The Divine Right of Kings
Anthony Maclean, Senior Extra-Mural Lecturer, University of Kent
1978
Royalist Sentiment After the Execution of King Charles
Dame Veronica Wedgewood
1977
Kentish Homes and People at the Restoration of Charles II
Frederick Lansbury. University of Kent
1976
Was King Charles a Martyr?
Revd Charles Gordon-Clark, Vicar King Charles the Martyr
1975
Charles and the Church of England
J G Parker, Head of History, Tonbridge School