The heir of the executed king acceded the throne as King Charles II beginning a new period known as the Restoration. The Parliament retained many of the laws put in place prior to the Civil War which limited the king’s powers. The power of the kingdom lay primarily in the hands of the parliament which in turn was controlled by the gentry and nobility. Some of the more radical measures however were reversed. The House of Lords was re-established, and the Church of England was revived and its bishops reinstated. 

The new king preferred a more absolutist monarchy which was impossible given the condition of the nation in 1660. The king had no power to interfere with the world of Parliament. He could not raise taxes without their consent, parliament enforced their will in the selection of the king’s ministers, and the parliament dictated foreign policy which had been under the purview of the monarchy.