A Royalist officer, portrayed by Clive Simpson of the Forlorn Hope. Contrary to popular Victorian myth, it was not usually possible to tell which side an officer (or ordinary soldier) belonged to by observing the flamboyance of dress or length of hair. "Roundheads" (a Royalist term of abuse for the more properly-termed Parliamentarians) did not generally sport short haircuts or prefer to wear sombre colours, nor did the Royalist "Cavaliers" (an equally offensive Parliamentarian nickname for their enemies) always let their hair grow long or wear hats with feathers in them (the latter being far too expensive for most folk anyway).

Wealth, not political adherence, tended to dictate how a person dressed or looked - this rather dashing gentleman could just as easily be a Parliamentarian and being an officer, wears his own clothes rather than a uniform coat or suit, issued to the common soldiers whenever possible. Often, the only way to tell the difference between the two sides was through the wearing of agreed field signs (such as a piece of paper or sprig of greenery) or shouting of daily pass words (for instance, "Queen Mary"). Of course, if in the smoke, noise and confusion of battle a large body of soldiers attacked, what side they were actually on could be rather academic if they were charging straight at you...! There is nothing new about "friendly fire", as (for example) a number of unfortunate Parliamentarian troopers discovered during the pursuit of routing Royalists at the Battle of Winceby in 1643.