Are you a Roundhead or Cavalier?

On the wall in their bedroom, Dominic and Max have one of those educational wall charts that has pictures and blurb about various Kings and Queens of Great Britain. The other night they asked about the one with the hat on - who happened to be Charles I.
Of course I agreed to read out the blurb and decided not to soften history, but told them that he had been executed. And I'm not sorry I did it... but it has rather opened a can of worms, particularly with Max.
Max would like to know the name of the man who chopped the king's head off. Max wants to know if the king was a good guy or a bad guy. Now the English Civil War and the history of the Anglican church versus Catholicism is not that easy to deal with in the kind of black and white way that a nearly four year old likes to see the world, but I have given it my best shot.
And without any prompting on my side (honest Mum), Max has plumped for the King. Not only is he a Cavalier, he assures me he was a Cavalier and has spent this afternoon describing his many battles, his expert use of sword and axe and his own personal killing spree against anyone who was not on the King's side. It got a little worryingly graphic at points, but is okay, Max has assured me: he will only ever, ever kill the bad guys. Eek.