King James I believed in the divine right of kings meaning that he believed God had appointed him to rule and as such parliament should be obedient to the wishes and will of the king. James was reliant on parliament for money and parliament refused to agree to his demands. There was a clash over custom duties and although James was entitled to them as an income parliament refused to allow him to collect it without their permission. infuriated, James dismissed parliament and ruled for the next 11 years with the assistance of his friends who he rewarded with lands and titles. In 1621 parliament was recalled to discuss the prospect of marriage between his son Charles, and a Spanish princess. As the Spanish Armada was still fresh in everyone`s memory there was outrage and although the marriage did not happen, relations with parliament were still damaged by the time James died and Charles took the throne in 1625. Charles, also believed in the divine right of kings but he was also arrogant and conceited and it was his personality that would light the touchpaper for the English Civil War. For the next 4 years he was continually at loggerheads with parliament over money and to a lesser extent religion. He had married a French catholic and the protestant nation feared the rise of Catholicism in England. The Duke of Buckingham, who was a favourite of Charles was deeply despised as he had arranged the marriage between Charles and Henrietta and he was given charge of foreign policy and was allowed to launch a series of disastrous military expeditions against Spain and France. Buckingham proved hopeless and incompetent in trying to resolve the thirty years war conflict and when parliament tried to impeach him Charles dissolved the first 2 parliaments but was forced to recall a third parliament when he needed to raise money. The problem of Buckingham was solved when he was