Supporters of King Charles I. They were usually (but not always) Catholic and often of the upper, richer classes. However, the English Civil War was not a class struggle and Royalists also came from the poorer north and west of Britain.

They were also known as 'Cavaliers' from the Spanish word 'Caballeros', meaning 'horsemen' . Cavaliers often had long hair and wore fancy clothes. You can see in the painting that the boy's clothes, and those of his mother and sister, are more colourful and decorative than the Roundheads'.