Hmmm, now being a paddy I can't stick Cromwell. But i'm no royalist either... Leave it with me...

We need a man of Cromwellian calibre to dissolve this parliament of whoremongers.

My family always believed that we were descended from Col. John Okey the Regicide, who commanded the Dragoons in the New Model Army. However, I have subsequently learned through genealogy fora on the Internet that their is no provable connexion between the regicide and the members of the Okey family in the USA. (My mother's maiden name was Okey.)

Because of the colonel, I always felt constrained by family loyalty to be Roundhead. However, since my religious sympathies, such as they are these days, are extremely High Church, and in my younger days I was something of a rake, I would certainly be much more comfortable being a Cavalier. Since there is no proof I am descended from the regicide, I can feel free to be a Cavalier sympathizer without betraying my family heritage.

A Cavalier-ish figure I have come to especially admire, although he post-dates the English Civil War, is John Graham of Claverhouse, the later Viscount Dundee, inspiration of the song "Bonnie Dundee."