Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from March 27, 1625 until his execution in 1649. He famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England.

Sourced

• Be your holiness persuaded that I am, and ever shall be, of such moderation as to keep aloof, as far as possible, from every undertaking which may testify any hatred towards the Roman Catholic religion. Nay, rather I will seize all opportunities, by a gentle and generous mode of conduct, to remove all sinister suspicions entirely; so that, as we all confess one undivided Trinity and one Christ crucified, we may be banded together unanimously into one faith.
  • Letter to Pope Gregory XV (20 April, 1623).
  • Sir Charles Petrie (ed.), The Letters...of King Charles I (1935), p. 16.

• I must tell you that the liberty and freedom [of the people] consists in having of Government, those laws by which their life and their goods may be most their own. It is not for having share in Government, Sir, that is nothing pertaining to them. A subject and a sovereign are clean different things. If I would have given way to an arbitrary way, for to have all laws changed according to the Power of the Sword, I needed not to have come here, and therefore I tell you...that I am the martyr of the people.
  • On the scaffold before his execution. (30 January, 1649).

• I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the world.
  • Last words, said on the scaffold before his execution. (30 January, 1649).

Attributed

• I see the birds have flown.
  • Reportedly said in the House of Commons referring to John Hampden, Arthur Hesilrige, Denzil Holles, John Pym and William Strode who Charles had tried to arrest.