The Wallingford House party was a group of senior officers (Grandees) of the New Model Army who met at Wallingford House, the London home of Charles Fleetwood. Their intention was to overthrow the Protectorate of the Lord Protector, Richard Cromwell.On 23 April 1659 the party ended the Third Protectorate Parliament by locking the doors of the assembly rooms. On 6 May the Council of Officers meeting in Wallingford House, invited the Rump Parliament to reassemble, which it did the following day, appointing a Committee of Safety to form the executive until a new Council of State was appointed on 19 May.

The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be known as the Interregnum (1649–1660).

The term Restoration is also used to describe the period of several years after, in which a new political settlement was established. It is very often used to cover the whole reign of King Charles II (1660–1685) and often the brief reign of his younger brother King James II (1685–1688). In certain contexts it may be used to cover the whole period of the later Stuart monarchs as far as the death of Queen Anne and the accession of the Hanoverian King George I in 1714. For example, Restoration comedy typically encompasses works written as late as 1710.