King Charles I

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Charles, youngest son of James I and Anne of Denmark, seized the throne after his brother Henry's death in 1612. Charles inherited his father's conviction that monarchs held absolute power by divine right and became renowned as Britain's greatest patron and collector of royal art. However, Charles' dismissal of Parliament and personal rule led to civil war when he imposed taxes and attempted to enforce religious uniformity on the nation. Defeated in battle, Charles was put on trial for treason, charged with levying war against Parliament and its represented people, and executed outside Whitehall's Banqueting House on January 30, 1649.