Godric Aylmer was a Royalist soldier during the English Civil War. He saw Oliver Cromwell as anything but a gentleman, seeing him as an unrefined and impolite farmer. He fought at the 1644 Second Battle of Newbury, where he was amazed at the Parliamentarians' failure to pursue the Royalist army. He saw Prince Rupert of the Rhine as a fearsome man of immense personal courage, and he had confidence that he would lead the army to success as its commander-in-chief in 1645. He served at the Battle of Naseby, during which he participated in the cavalry charge against Parliamentarian troops hiding behind hedges. He also took part in the pursuit of the Parliamentarian infantry when "they broke and fled like cowards", as he worded it. After the charge, the Royalist cavalry plundered the Parliamentarians' abandoned possessions.