Although the “Great Marquis” suffered death for his devotion to the King, the cause for which he laid down his life was not lost in his native country. In 1650 Charles II., a young man of twenty, landed at the mouth of the Spey, and although England at the time was under the Protectorate, the youthful adventurer was crowned King of Scots. In the end of July he spent some nights in Stirling Castle, delighting the townsfolk with his courtly manners and reminding the old inhabitants of the splendid days that had gone. Charles was the last of a long line of monarchs to take up residence within the old walls. A few months later Holburne, the captain of the castle, was suspected of being a Royalist only by pretence, and of having held treacherous communications with some of the agents of Oliver Cromwell. The officer obeyed the summons to appear before the Parliament of Perth, and there he succeeded in clearing himself of the charge which his enemies had brought up against him.[79] Young King Charles did not long enjoy the ancient crown of his fathers. Cromwell’s victories of Dunbar and Worcester made the continuance of the monarchy impossible, although all the Scottish strongholds did not at once surrender to the rule of the Protector. Under the governorship of Colonel William Conyngham--who as an undoubted Royalist had been placed in Holburne’s position--the garrison of Stirling Castle determined to hold the fortress for the King. This defiance brought General Monk to the gates, with over five thousand men, on August 6th, 1651. The day after his arrival he ordered his soldiers to raise earthen platforms for mounting his guns. One of these batteries was erected in the churchyard, whence for three days a fire was kept up, causing considerable damage to the castle. At the same time Colonel Conyngham’s ordnance played hard upon the graveyard platform: a cannonade that has left its traces on the church to the present day. On the fourteenth of the month, owing to a mutiny in the garrison, the governor sent out a letter to Monk desiring a treaty of surrender, although two days before, not foreseeing this contingency, he had told the besiegers that he would hold the fortress as long as he could.[80]