The inauguration of the lord protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, which took place on 16 December 1653, was one of the most extraordinary moments in all British history. Almost five years after the execution of Charles I, the experiment with parliamentary government had comprehensively failed. Having run out of other options, the New Model Army handed supreme power to its most successful general, Oliver Cromwell, who became chief magistrate for life.
Cromwell’s inauguration, which was not advertised beforehand, was vaguely based on the formula for a royal coronation. At one that afternoon, reported one newspaper, a coach drew him along Whitehall to the Palace of Westminster, accompanied by “the chief officers of the army with their cloaks, and swords, and hats on”. In Westminster Hall the…