Royal Oak, the Tree That Saved a Monarch's Head

Henry IV, as penned by the Bard, observed that "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." Cicero portrays his "Sword of Damocles" ever-poised to sever the heads of monarchs. Britain's history is rife with such royal chops. It's to this habit and some quick thinking by Charles II that Royal Oak, Michigan, owes its name.

Charles II was a jolly soul. He liked wine, women, and song. Not a great success in the marital bed (legal descendants: zero), Charles managed better on the wrong side of the blanket. His multiple escapades with mistresses led to Charles begetting some 12 illegitimate children. This and his other frolics earned Charles II the title of "Merrie Monarch." It did not however, ingratiate him with the stern Puritan known as Old Ironsides.

Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentarians (or Roundheads) took himself, his New Model Army, England and pretty much everything else very seriously. He was everything that licentious Charles II was not. To call Cromwell ruthless is like saying Attila the Hun liked to make land deals. As Lord Protector, Cromwell made the Borgias look like scout troop and his Dissolution of the Monasteries made the Salem Witch Trials, a church picnic.

Needless to say, pleasure-loving Charles II fell foul of Cromwell. Charles came to power near the end of the English Civil War (1642-1651), into the Restoration. This civil war should not to be confused with the other English civil War of the Roses (1455-1485), a sort of sibling rivalry in the royal House of Plantagenet between forces of Lancaster and York.

During Charles II's civil war, in Battle of Worcester, the Roundhead and Cavalier chased each other about the countryside. It's from these head-hunting expeditions that Alice in Wonderland's Red Queen gets her famous line, "Off with his head!" On one occasion, with Roundheads in pursuit, Charles, liking his head attached and wishing to see it remain that way, escaped by hiding out in the bole of a giant English oak tree.

The oak, situated in Boscobel Wood, near Boscobel House, has come to be called a Royal Oak. May 29 is called "Royal Oak Day" (also, "Oak Apple Day", "Shick Shack Day" and sometimes, by the name that the United States formerly called Earth Day, "Arbor Day"). A large oak tree, located at the corner of Crooks and Main in what is now Royal Oak, Mich., reminded Michigan surveyor Lewis Cass of the legend of the King Charles Oak. Hence the city's name.

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about Detroit local from a lifetime living in Michigan and 20 plus years teaching history, social studies and geography.