Statue of Charles II, Royal Hospital Chelsea Christopher Wren and construction continued from 1682 to 1691. The statue of Charles was commissioned by Tobias Rustat, a member of the king's court and was designed by Grinling Gibbons in about 1682. Gibbon's fee was £500. The statue originally stood elsewhere and was moved to the Royal Hospital after Charles's death in 1685. Annually, on 29 May, Oak Apple Day, the traditional day for the celebration of the Restoration in 1660, the statute is wreathed with oak leaves. The statue is of brass and was originally gilded in bronze. It has been re-gilded subsequently to commemorate the Golden Jubilee
Monarchy of the United Kingdom English throne as James I, both the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, which followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Roman Catholics, or those who married Catholics, from succession to the English throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland joined to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The British monarch became nominal