Oliver Cromwell's forces defeated the predominantly Scottish Royalist army of Charles II in and around Worcester on 3 September 1651. Thousands were killed or captured, while Charles escaped after weeks in hiding. The battle ended the major military campaigns of the English Civil Wars.

Worcester became Cromwell's celebrated crowning mercy and a lasting Royalist story of defeat, concealment and miraculous escape. Charles II's adventures later fed memoir, ballad, historical narrative and Restoration legend.