A curiosity

For some reason this evening, with no idea now what the prompt was, I wanted to know what happened to Richard Cromwell, briefly Protector on after the death of his father Oliver Cromwell in 1658.

The Oxford History of England does not bother with such personal trivia, but I learn from Wikipedia that Richard went on to long life. Born in 1626, the third son, he succeeded as Protector in 1658, abdicated the following year and went into exile in 1660, the year of the restoration. He returned in 1680 or thereabouts and seemingly lived privately on the income from his estate in Hampshire, presumably not confiscated after his abdication. He died in 1712 at the age of 85, a record for head of state longevity only recently broken by our late queen, Elizabeth II.

Not a bad result for the time. The only sad note is that after going into exile he never again saw his wife of ten years, who had borne him nine children, of whom five survived. She died in 1675, five years before his return. Perhaps they had agreed that the lesser evil was for her to stay behind with their children.

PS: nothing about his two elder brothers. If he was so unsuited to high office, what was their problem?

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cromwell. The source of the image above: 'Proclamation announcing the death of Oliver Cromwell and the succession of Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector. Printed in Scotland 1658'.