Antonia Fraser, undaunted by the overwhelming weight of historical opinion, sets out in her latest book [Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration] to do what Charles Stuart himself could not do: make Charles II of England a great king. Lady Fraser has an excellent reason for such an attempt—everything bad that could possibly be said about the King's dissipation and laziness has already been said, both by his contemporaries and later biographers. Fraser's attempt to restore Charles to favorable public opinion is a fascinating blend of painstaking (and interesting) historical research and a flamboyant writing style, but, in paying court to Charles, her research is often slanted and her prose, in the manner of an apologia, elaborate, tangled, and a bit embarrassed. (p. 122)

At Charles's death, Fraser's final advice to the reader is "Let his royal ashes lie soft upon King Charles II," and my final...