Restoration Day, more commonly known as Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day, was an English, Welsh and Irish public holiday observed annually on 29 May, to commemorate the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in May 1660.
As a monarchist, Paul Borrow-Longain considers remembering the anniversary of the country’s return to monarchy as an important date.
In 1660, the English Parliament passed into law “An Act for a Perpetual Anniversary Thanksgiving on the Nine and Twentieth Day of May”, declaring 29 May a public holiday “for keeping of a perpetual Anniversary, for a Day of Thanksgiving to God, for the great Blessing and Mercy he hath been graciously pleased to vouchsafe to the People of these Kingdoms, after their manifold and grievous Sufferings, in the Restoration of his Majesty.”
The public holiday was abolished under the Anniversary Days Observance Act 1859, but the date retains some significance in local and institutional customs. It is, for example, still observed as Founder’s Day by the Royal Hospital Chelsea, which was founded by Charles II in 1681.
In Ireland, Oak Apple Day was made a public holiday under the Act of Settlement 1662
