#i just really dont like this guy

I’m not going to hide my distaste for Henry Wilmot, father of John, as I rather think he spent most of his life drunk and making poor choices that almost got a lot of people killed. For example, taking part in an active army plot against parliament in 1641 for which he was expelled from the House of Commons and committed to the tower. 

Nevertheless he took over from Prince Rupert as Commander of all the Royalist Cavalry and aided Charles I in many battles. However he subsequently made contact with the Earl of Essex, the parliamentarian commander-in-chief. Charles I saw this as treason and Henry was arrested on August 8th, 1644, he was stripped of all offices and was exiled to France in return for his charges being dropped, (by doing this he escaped execution.)

Charles II did not share his father’s opinion of Henry and he brought him back from France to be a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. Charles II placed great trust in Henry, so much so that after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, Charles allowed Henry to hide him and then help him escape to the continent. 

They shared the subsequent European wanderings, with Henry visiting Emperor Frederick III, Nicolas II Duke of Lorraine and Frederick William Elector of Brandenburg on Charles’ behalf. However Wilmot refused to disguise himself and declined to travel on foot, causing more than a few problems for the exiled King Charles.

In March 1655, Wilmot was back in England and led an unsuccessful uprising on Marston Moor and upon it’s failure, Wilmot once again fled the country.

He died in 1656 as a result of sickness in an overcrowded barracks in Bruges.