Madame de Motteville, one of Anne of Austria's ladies in waiting, described Charles during the Interregnum:
"The greatest heroes and sages of antiquity did not guide their lives by grander principles of action, than this young Prince at the opening of his career, but when he found that his struggles were doomed to failure, he sank into indifference, and bore the ills of poverty and exile with reckless nonchalance, snatching at whatever pleasures came in his way, even those of the most degraded kind. So he gave himself up to lawless passion, and passed many years, in France and other countries, in the utmost sloth."
I don't know if Motteville was being entirely fair; Charles was involved with various plots and schemes for his restoration to power throughout the Interregnum. Charles didn't make a very good impression on the French Court while he was there, which Motteville's description reflects. He stammered and had difficulty speaking French. He refused to discuss his political activities with the Dowager Queen, he horrified his cousin La Grande Mademoiselle with his taste in food - he preferred simple dishes like mutton- , and unfortunately, Lucy Walters and their illegitimate son were with him in Paris for a time.
