The trial was arranged so as to be as public as possible. The intention
was to justify the execution of Charles I in the eyes of the people, many of whom did not wish
to see the king dead.Sir Thomas Fairfax also did not want to see him dead, and protested that killing Charles would only lead to further problems with his successor, then Prince of Wales. However, his protestations fell on deaf ears.
No English laws could be discovered in all history that dealt with the trial of the monarch. The order convening the court was written by a Dutch lawyer, Isaac Dorislaus, and dated back to the Roman era, wherein the Praetorian Guard (a military body) could leagally overthrow a tyrant.
The rump parliament elected a court of commissioners 135 strong on 1 Jan 1649. However, only 68 of these obeyed this summons. None of the existing high court judges agreed to preside over the court, and a lawyer called John Bradshaw was elected president.
The House of Lords threw this ordinance out the very next day. However, parliament re-enacted the ordinance on the 4th, although only 46 MP's were now in the house, and only 26 of these voted for the ordinance.
The king himself, although forced to attend, refused to acknowledge the court, considering it completely illegal. Fairfax refused to attend, and strove to save the king from execution, but could not do so without dividing the army against itself, which could have led to further hostilities.
Apart from the commissioners and the king, the hall was crowded with soldiers to guard against possible attacks. Bradshaw himself apparently wore an iron hat, fearing for an assassination attempt. Ironically, though, the pubilc were not allowed into the hall until after the charge had been read, since it was so sketchy, and the public so supportive of the king, that it was considered too dangerous.
Charles was found guilty, and sentenced to death on 26 Jan. On the 30th, he was lead from St. James' Palace to Whitehall to be executed. At 1.00pm he was beheaded in front of a crowd kept back by thick ranks of soldiers. His last words, printed and sold on that very day, were:
A contempory diarist wrote that when his head was held up "...there was such a groan by the thousands then present...", since none were happy to see him dead.
