The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. 'Wonderful…This Sceptred Isle has provided one of the greatest treats for listeners in recent years.' Paul Donovan, Sunday Times.
After the death of Oliver Crowmwell, the Protectorate collapsed and parliament voted for the return of the exiled king, Charles II. His quarter-century reign witnessed the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London, the birth of political parties and a great prosperousness in the arts.
Charles was succeeded by his brother, James the Second, whose Catholicism aroused deep-rooted fears of French domination. These fears led to the 1688 revolution when the Dutch Protestant Prince William of Orange, grandson of Charles the First, was invited to invade England.
William ruled the country jointly with his wife, Mary, the deposed James' daughter. Their reign saw increasing discontent along the Jacobites in Scotland and in Ireland a battle whose echoes have still not died away; the Battle of the Boyne.