Did you know...

 that Charles I was the first King of Great Britain to be crowned in Scotland?

 that the downfall of King Charles I, (1625-1649), son of James VI, began through his loyalty to his faithless friend, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham? Buckingham was vain, ambitious, dishonest, and constantly gave Charles unwise counsel.

 that in the great controversy which was both political and religious, it was the Puritans and such more radical sects which were striving to crush the King; whereas the Presbyterians wished only to establish certain controls against lavish extravagance and religious persecution?

 that the Scots Presbyterians remained loyal to their King until he refused to take the oath of the Scots Covenant, after which they released him to the English?

 that, although Charles I had several opportunities to escape from Oliver Cromwell's guards, he refused to break the word he had given the governor of the Castle in which he was prisoner not to attempt an escape?

 that Charles I requested permission from his jailor to wear two shirts to his execution, because the February day was cold and he did not wish his people to think he shivered from cowardice?

 that King Charles I ordered the reluctant and unhappy executioner, who died of grief within two years, to withhold the fatal blow until he himself gave the signal, thus his death would be by his own last royal command?

 that Charles I, like James IV, was interred in an unmarked grave in 1649, which was discovered by accident in 1813 when repairs were being made to St. George's Chapel?
 

 that although there is believed to have been much gold and silver plate in Scotland during the Middle Ages for both secular and sacred use, only a scanty amount remains in evidence today, on view in museums and in private collections? Churches, palaces, and castles were stripped of their magnificently handcrafted treasures by looting mobs of the populace and the military, after Mary Queen of Scots' surrender at Carberry Hill, during the Protestant Reformation, and the Cromwellian era. Much of the gold and silver was melted down for coinage, including the 333-ounce gold font sent by Queen Elizabeth to Mary Queen of Scots for her son's christening. By the courageous acts of a number of Scottish patriots, the Scottish Crown, Scepter and Sword of State escaped the fate of the 600-year-old English Crown of Edward the Confessor which Cromwell himself condemned to the smelting furnace.