Lord Protector in the context of "John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland"

Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.

Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France. After Charles I's execution at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649. However, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth with a republican government eventually led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis after Cromwell's death in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim.

The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, and also the Cousins' War, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought for control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fought between supporters of the House of Lancaster (emblem a red rose) and House of York (white rose), two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet. The conflict resulted in the end of Lancaster's male line in 1471, leaving the Tudor family to inherit their claim to the throne through the female line. Conflict was largely brought to an end upon the union of the two houses through marriage, creating the Tudor dynasty that would subsequently rule England.

The Wars of the Roses were rooted in English socio-economic troubles caused by the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) with France, as well as the quasi-military bastard feudalism resulting from the powerful duchies created by King Edward III. The mental instability of King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster revived his cousin Richard, Duke of York's interest in a claim to the throne. Warfare began in 1455 with York's capture of Henry at the First Battle of St Albans, upon which York was appointed Lord Protector by Parliament. Fighting resumed four years later when Yorkists led by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, captured Henry again at the Battle of Northampton. After attempting to seize the throne, York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, and his son Edward inherited his claim per the controversial Act of Accord. The Yorkists lost custody of Henry in 1461 after the Second Battle of St Albans, but defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton. The Yorkist Edward was formally crowned in June 1461.

Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.

Richard was created Duke of Gloucester in 1461 after the accession to the throne of his older brother Edward IV. This was during the period known as the Wars of the Roses, an era when two branches of the royal family contested the throne; Edward and Richard were Yorkists, and their side of the family faced off against their Lancastrian cousins. In 1472, Richard married Anne Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and widow of Edward of Lancaster, son of Henry VI, a Lancastrian. He governed northern England during Edward's reign, and played a role in the invasion of Scotland in 1482. When Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's eldest son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. Before arrangements were complete for Edward V's coronation, scheduled for 22 June 1483, the marriage of his parents was declared bigamous and therefore invalid. Now officially illegitimate, Edward and his siblings were barred from inheriting the throne. On 25 June, an assembly of lords and commoners endorsed a declaration to this effect, and proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. He was crowned on 6 July 1483. Edward and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, called the "Princes in the Tower", disappeared from the Tower of London around August 1483.

The Commonwealth of England, enlarged in 1653 as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when the Kingdom of England was dissolved into a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I. The republic's existence was declared through "An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth", adopted by the Rump Parliament on 19 May 1649. Power in the early Commonwealth was vested primarily in the Parliament and a Council of State. During the period, fighting continued, particularly in Ireland and Scotland, between the parliamentary forces and those opposed to them, in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and the Anglo-Scottish war of 1650–1652.

In 1653, after dissolution of the Rump Parliament, the Army Council adopted the Instrument of Government, by which Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector of a united "Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland", inaugurating the period now usually known as the Protectorate. After Cromwell's death, and following a brief period of rule under his son, Richard Cromwell, the Protectorate Parliament was dissolved in 1659 and the Rump Parliament recalled, starting a process that led to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The term Commonwealth is sometimes used for the whole of 1649 to 1660 – called by some the Interregnum – although for other historians, the use of the term is limited to the years prior to Cromwell's formal assumption of power in 1653.

Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and latterly as a politician. A leading advocate of the execution of Charles I in January 1649, which led to the establishment of the Commonwealth of England, Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death.

Although elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon in 1628, much of Cromwell's life prior to 1640 was marked by financial and personal failure. He briefly contemplated emigration to New England, but became a religious Independent in the 1630s and thereafter believed his successes were the result of divine providence. In 1640 he was returned as MP for Cambridge in the Short and Long Parliaments. He joined the Parliamentarian army when the First English Civil War began in August 1642 and quickly demonstrated his military abilities. In 1645 he was appointed commander of the New Model Army cavalry under Thomas Fairfax, and played a key role in winning the English Civil War.

Richard Cromwell (4 October 1626 – 12 July 1712) was an English statesman who served as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1658 to 1659. He was the son of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.

Following his father's death in 1658, Richard became Lord Protector, but he lacked authority. He tried to mediate between the army and civil society, and allowed a Parliament that contained many disaffected Presbyterians and Royalists to sit. Suspicions that civilian councillors were intent on supplanting the army peaked in an attempt to prosecute a major-general for actions against a Royalist. The army made a threatening demonstration of force against Richard, and may have had him in detention. He formally renounced power only nine months after succeeding.

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp KG, PC (1500 – 22 January 1552) was an English nobleman and politician who served as Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the minority of his nephew King Edward VI. He was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward VI.

Seymour grew rapidly in favour with Henry VIII following Jane's marriage to the king in 1536, and was subsequently made Earl of Hertford. On Henry's death in 1547, he was appointed protector by the Regency Council on the accession of the nine-year-old Edward VI. Rewarded with the title Duke of Somerset, Seymour became the effective ruler of England. Somerset continued Henry's military campaign against the Scots and achieved a sound victory at the Battle of Pinkie, but ultimately he was unable to maintain his position in Scotland. Domestically, Somerset pursued further reforms as an extension of the English Reformation, and in 1549 imposed the first Book of Common Prayer through the Act of Uniformity, offering a compromise between Protestant and Roman Catholic teachings. The unpopularity of Somerset's religious measures, along with agrarian grievances, resulted in unrest in England and provoked a series of uprisings (including the Prayer Book Rebellion and Kett's Rebellion). Costly wars and economic mismanagement brought the Crown to financial ruin, further undermining his government.