Prince Charles has paid off a family debt from the 17th century. The payment of 453 pounds and 3 shillings ($900) was made during a visit to Worcester by Charles and his lovely wife Camilla.
The debt was incurred in 1651 when King Charles II at the time recognized only as the King of Scotland was preparing for the Battle of Worcester. He asked the Clothiers Company in Worcester to prepare uniforms for his soldiers and pledged to pay afterward but his forces were defeated and Charles fled to mainland Europe. He never got around to paying the bill even after 1660 when he returned as the King of England.
Worcester businessmen have tried to collect the bill for the last 15 years, and Prince Charles decided to pay it as "a gesture of goodwill," even though Charles II was of the Stuart line and not at all related to the German Saxe-Coburg Gotha line of which Charles Windsor the Prince of Wales is from but those Worcester businessmen can get real pushy when it comes to bill collecting and Charles was tired of getting automated phone messages on his recorder from debt collectors.
Prince Charles declined to pay the interest, which after more than 350 years would have exceeded 47,000 pounds ($94,000) by saying "I was not born yesterday".
Prince Charles declined to pay the interest, which after more than 350 years would have exceeded 47,000 pounds ($94,000) by saying "I was not born yesterday".
The Master of the Clothiers Company of Worcester, Andrew Grant, received the money from the prince in a 1650-style gaming purse made by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Prince had raided his coin jar and it was all in pennys.
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1 comment:
Maybe the squeaky shoes that were not paid for alerted the enemy to their position.
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