Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge
Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge, was an English politician whose parliamentary career spanned nearly half a century, from 1621 to 1668. A steadfast supporter of the Crown during the English Civil War, he lived through the reigns of James I, Charles I, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration of Charles II. In a striking reversal of the usual order of inheritance, he later succeeded to a peerage that had been created for his own son.
Early Life and Background
Charles Berkeley was born in 1599 into a gentry family with longstanding ties to the political life of England. Like many sons of established families in this period, he was groomed from an early age for a career in public service, and his family's connections opened the door to a seat in the House of Commons while he was still a young man. Little is recorded of his childhood or education, but by his early twenties he had already entered the world of national politics, a world dominated by the tensions between the Crown and Parliament that would define his entire adult life. His family background placed him among the ranks of the English gentry who typically balanced local estate management with periodic service in Westminster. This grounding in landed society would prove significant decades later, when the fortunes of his own family shifted dramatically and unexpectedly placed him at the center of a rare legal arrangement involving inherited titles.
Parliamentary Career and the Civil War
Berkeley first took his seat in the House of Commons in 1621 and went on to represent various constituencies intermittently over the following decades, a career that reflected both his family's regional influence and his own persistence in public life. When civil war erupted between King Charles I and Parliament in the 1640s, Berkeley firmly aligned himself with the Royalist cause, joining the many members of the political and landed classes who risked their estates and standing to support the monarchy. The Civil War years brought upheaval to Royalist families across England, often resulting in fines, sequestration of property, or exclusion from public office during the Interregnum. Berkeley weathered this turbulent period and, like many former Royalists, saw his political fortunes restored with the return of Charles II to the throne in 1660. He resumed his seat in the Commons in the Restoration Parliament, continuing to serve as a member well into his sixties, a testament to his enduring commitment to parliamentary life across one of the most volatile eras in English constitutional history.
Did You Know?
Charles Berkeley inherited his own son's peerage. His son, also named Charles, was created Viscount Fitzhardinge in 1663 but died before his father; thanks to a special remainder in the original grant, the elder Berkeley became the 2nd Viscount, reversing the usual order of inheritance.
Later Life, the Special Remainder, and Legacy
The most distinctive episode of Berkeley's life came near its end. His son, also named Charles Berkeley, rose to prominence as a courtier under Charles II and was created Viscount Fitzhardinge in 1663. When the younger Berkeley died before his father, the viscountcy—thanks to a special remainder built into its original grant—passed not to a grandson but back to Charles Berkeley the elder, making him the 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge. This unusual succession meant a father inherited the very title created for his son, a rare occurrence in the British peerage. Berkeley held the viscountcy for the remaining years of his life, dying on June 12, 1668, at around 69 years of age. His life bridged the Jacobean, Caroline, Commonwealth, and Restoration periods of English history, and his career in the Commons across five decades illustrates the remarkable continuity—and resilience—of England's political class through one of its most turbulent centuries.