The king (Charles I) was beheaded in 1649. His son, Charles II, was over in France lying low and waiting to see if he would be asked back to England to assume the powers of king. To become king, Charles II signed the Declaration of Breda: 1. He wouldn't kill anyone who rebelled against his father except those who actually signed the death warrant of his father, 2. Parliament could decide the religion and property settlements, 3. He would pay the back wages of the army even though they had fought against his father.
Charles II was 30 years old, tall, friendly, had a cynical humor, was a good intriguer and double-dealer. He wanted to be king and he wanted to get all his power back. He mistrusted people. His reign (1660-1685) was known as the Restoration Period (restoring the king). Charles II created a party boy atmosphere to hide trying to get his power back. He had many mistresses. In 1665, there was a big plague and in 1666 there was a big fire in London. It burned 13,000 buildings. Charles II was on the secret payroll of the king of France. He was supposed to fight the Dutch and make England Catholic. This money made him independent of Parliament. He had no legitimate children.
When Charles II died in 1685, his younger brother James II, Duke of York (after which New York is named) became the king. He was sincere and a very religious Catholic. He was obstinate and alienated everyone. He was old (52 years old) when he became king. He had no sons but 2 Anglican daughters, Mary and Anne. Mary (the elder daughter) was married to the king of Holland, William of Orang3e. James was widowed and decided to marry again. He married a nice Catholic girl and produced a son (which some people called a fake who was smuggled in). This would cause a disaster if the kid was allowed to rule cuz he would be much too young when his dad died. Plus, he would certainly be Catholic which would ensure a Catholic successor to James II.
There were two political parties formed at this time: Whigs and Tories. The Whigs were liberal and pro-Parliament. The Tories were conservative and pro-king. Even though the Tories are pro-king, they don't want a child king (and a Catholic child king at that). The Whigs and Tories got together and started putting out propaganda against the king's baby son. They called it the "warming pan baby," said that it had been smuggled into the country in a warming pan and wasn't really James's kid. They sent letters to William and Mary in Holland and asked her if she'd like to become queen. She said, sure, why not? She wants William to be king, so they agree to a co-monarchy. In 1688, William and Mary "conquered" England (they sailed into port which surrendered without a shot). James was supposed to be allowed to escape but somebody caught him by mistake. They put him in a house by the water front and eventually he did escape in a boat loaded with supplies which just happened to be left for him. So, James "deserted" his country.
Mary wouldn't be queen unless William was made king. William had no blood claim to the crown, but Parliament made him king anyway. This was called the Glorious Revolution. It was glorious because Parliament had gotten rid of a king and acquired a new one without shedding any blood. The monarchy is basically dead if a legitimate king can be thrown out of the monarchy in favor of his daughter. Parliament forced William and Mary to sign a Bill of Rights (rights which Englishmen had always had traditionally but had not been written down until then). There could be no tax without Parliament's approval, freedom of speech in Parliament, nobody royal could become Catholic or marry a Catholic, there would be frequent Parliament sessions, no standing armies in peacetime, etc. In 1689, William and Mary became joint monarchs.
John Locke was a philosopher. He wrote 2 treatise on government to justify the Glorious Revolution. He wrote the Contract Theory of Government. In it, he explained that a king should promise to do his job and the people should promise to do theirs. If the king doesn't do his part, he breaks the contract and the people can make a new contract with a new king. It was totally ridiculous but it allowed people to sleep nights for a while and not feel guilty about ousting James II. That is until the Americans used it during the Revolution. Then that came back to the haunt the English.
Mary died in 1694, after which William ruled alone until his death in 1702. After William's death, Anne (Mary's younger sister) becomes queen. She didn't read cuz she had weak eyes. The country was run by factions who had access to the queen's ear. Sarah Churchill and her husband, the Duke of Marlborough, had her ear a lot. England fought more with France (the leading country of Europe). Scotland and England united as one country called Great Britain in 1707. Anne died in 1714.
France was in the age of Louis XIV. He was the biggest French king. He was king of France from 1643 to 1715. There had been lots of civil wars with the Huguenots, and lots of kid kings held there by cardinals who ruled for them. Louis XIV was 5 years old when he became king in 1643. He was a most absolute monarch. He was called the Sun King of Europe cuz his reign was so full of razzle dazzle. He shone as brightly as the sun while the monarchs of other countries are just moons surrounding him. He exported culture from France. French is the second language of educated people. Louis was the "State." He liked flattery a lot. He took full control of his country at 13 years of age. He had a vigorous body but was not very educated. He had a commanding presence, was strong, ate lots, wasn't well educated cuz teachers worried about him being king later and getting even with them for making him learn. His big building project was the Versailles palace (11 miles from Paris). It was really lavish and lots of people worked on it. It was built on a swamp during 1669-1682. It was very frilly. Louis XIV moved the nobility to Versailles and therefore he undermined their power cuz they were pulled away from their power bases and couldn't raise armies, trouble, etc. They also had nothing to do but sit around and play games. It was considered a big honor to hand Louis XIV his shirt for the day. He made the nobles lazy and powerless.
In religion, the Huguenots had been tolerated. But Louis XIV drove out the remaining Huguenots. Louis XIV fought a bunch of small wars. Europe was his enemy. He won some small places. Louis XIV wanted some more natural boundaries. (A natural boundary is something God put there for your country to run up against–like a mountain range, river, etc. that is easy to tell where your country ends and easy to defend. Somehow they are always running through someone else's country!) As strong as he was, his little wars didn't work very well for him. Louis XIV bankrupted his country with Versailles and his wars. He died in 1715. His reign was the longest in European history (72 years). This is the beginning of the end for the French monarchy.