He arrived at Bruges on April 22, 1656. His brother
James, Duke of York, and afterwards King of England, held a commission
in the French army, and Mazarin offered him a command in Italy.
Charles, however, requested him to leave the French army, and enter
the service of Spain. At first James refused; but by the mediation
of their sister, the Princess of Orange, he was persuaded to do
as his brother wished, and join the Court at Bruges. The Irish
Viscount Tarah received Charles, when he first arrived, in his
house in the Rue du Vieux Bourg, and there gave him, we read in
local history, 'une brillante hospitalite.' But in the beginning
of June the Court took up its quarters in the House of the Seven
Towers.
During his sojourn in Flanders, Charles was carefully watched by
the secret service officers of the Commonwealth Government, who
sent home reports of all he did. These reports, many of which are
in the Thurloe State Papers and other collections, contain some
curious details about the exiled Court.
There never was a more interesting 'English colony' at Bruges than
at that time. Hyde, who received the Great Seal at Bruges, was there
with Ormonde and the Earls of Bristol, Norwich, and Rochester.
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