Charles II: Declaration of Breda document to go on sale

A historical document prepared by Charles II in April 1660 is to go on sale at auction next month.

The Declaration of Breda sets out promises made by the monarch in return for his restoration to the throne after spending years in exile.

Of the original five documents written, only two copies are known to have survived.

It will have an estimated price of £400,000 to £600,000 when it is put on sale by Sotheby's on 4 May.

The declaration is expected to be the star lot at a sale ahead of the King's coronation, with manuscripts, jewellery, artwork and other objects relating to the British monarchy from the past and present to go under the hammer.

Three of the original five documents are thought to have been lost and it is a copy that belonged to the Navy which will go on sale.

Charles II spent most of his youth in exile as a result of the English Civil War and it was not until 1660 that he was invited back to London and restored to his father's throne.

Due to the political unrest, he drew up a proposed agreement with Parliament and the military rulers of the time which outlined his promises and vision for the future of the kingdom.

The document also pardoned many of the crimes committed during the English Civil War.

Five copies of the document were drawn up and each was sent to a major power base - the House of Commons, the City of London, the Army, the House of Lords and the Navy.

The monarch returned a month after the declaration in May 1660 and went on to rule for the next 25 years.

The document is in the public domain for the first time in nearly 40 years, having last been sold at auction in 1985 from a collection formerly owned by senior Naval officers.

Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby's manuscripts specialist, described it as "one of a small number of transformational royal documents that have changed royal power forever, and as such it is the most important of its kind to ever appear for public sale".

"It is through this declaration that in 1660 the monarchy was re-established on freshly agreed terms, setting the monarchy on a path that leads to the constitutional monarchy that we know 350 years later as Charles III ascends the throne," he said.

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