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Richard Cromwell (4 October 1626 – 12 July 1712) was an English statesman and the second and final Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, the son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell.
After his father's death in 1658, Richard became Lord Protector, but he lacked authority. He tried to mediate between the army and civil society, and allowed a Parliament containing many disaffected Presbyterians and Royalists to sit. Suspicions that civilian councillors were intent on supplanting the army were brought to a head by an attempt to prosecute a major-general for actions against a Royalist. The army made a threatening demonstration of force against Richard, and may have had him in detention. He formally renounced power only nine months after succeeding.
Though a Royalist revolt was crushed by the recalled civil war figure General John Lambert, who subsequently prevented the Rump Parliament from reconvening and created a Committee of Safety, Lambert found his troops melted away in the face of General George Monck's advance from Scotland. Monck then presided over the Restoration of 1660. Cromwell went into exile on the Continent, living in relative obscurity for the remainder of his life. He ultimately returned to his English estate and passed away at the age of 85. Cromwell was the longest-lived British head of state for 3 centuries, until Elizabeth II displaced him at 85 years, 9 months and 9 days in January 2012.