Richard Cromwell was the third surviving son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier. He succeeded his father as Lord Protector in 1658 but lacked a secure power base in the army and was unable to reconcile its senior officers with civilian government.
He resigned in May 1659, and the collapse of the Protectorate contributed to the restoration of Charles II the following year. Richard was the second and final Lord Protector, and the failure of his short government helped clear the path to the Stuart Restoration. Richard Cromwell was born in Huntingdon and died in Cheshunt.
In Andrew Taylor’s The Last Protector, Richard Cromwell, the former Lord Protector and son of Oliver Cromwell, has secretly returned to England despite the danger posed by the restored monarchy. In Miranda Malins’ The Puritan Princess, Eighteen-year-old Frances Cromwell has been carried by her father Oliver’s extraordinary rise into the ceremonial world of Hampton Court and Whitehall, where the family of the Lord Protector lives with many of the trappings of royalty.