This diary is the only eye-witness account of the English Civil War by a participant on the King’s side who was not an officer. The diarist, Richard Symonds, was a royal Lifeguardsman for the crucial two years of 1644-5, which included the battle of Naseby and the Royalist defeat. The value of his diaries to our understanding of the Civil War is considerable. It provides a distinctive picture of the face of battle in the Civil War, of the feelings of a sensitive and passionate follower of the King, and of the variety of military experience the war afforded. This reissue enhances Symond’s diary by placing it in a rich historical context for the first time, and adds a great deal of new material supplied by recent historical scholarship. This book will be invaluable to scholars and students of the English Civil War, as well as to local historians, war-gamers and Civil War re-enactors.