Can anyone tell me *why* Charles should/must go by something else? I really have no clue about British monarchal politics or procedures or protocols, so what's the deal with this? Why can't he just call himself 'King Charles?'
Charles I was a tyrant and Charles II was a womanizer.
But isn't Charles II (although not Charles I) pretty highly regarded today?
Ronald Hutton had this to say about him: "Other kings had inspired more respect, but perhaps only Henry VIII had endeared himself to the popular imagination as much as this one. He was the playboy monarch, naughty but nice, the hero of all who prized urbanity, tolerance, good humour, and the pursuit of pleasure above the more earnest, sober, or material virtues."
One could do a lot worse than that.
