Charles I loved art and brought the world-famous Triumphs of Caesar by Andrea Mantegna to Hampton Court Palace.
He also commissioned the stupendous paintings by Peter Paul Rubens that still decorate the ceiling of the Banqueting House in what was Whitehall Palace.
It’s ironic that the Banqueting House, which was all about celebrating the Stuart dynasty, was also the place of his execution.
Also famous for...
His execution
The only English monarch ever to be executed, he was beheaded in public view on a scaffold erected just outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall in 1649.
