Ambassador, Paul Barillon. Barillon informed the King that in the view of Louis XIV this was a suitable case for mercy, and James was at least prepared to listen to Russell's friends; but Charles was implacable, saying "if I do not take his life he will shortly take mine." Russell himself, in petitions to Charles and James, offered to live abroad if his life were spared, and never again to meddle in the affairs of England. He, however, refused an offer of escape from Cavendish. Lady Russell obtained a private interview and went on her knees to the King, but to no avail: Charles, who had shown clemency to former opponents after his Restoration, no longer believed in showing mercy to his real or supposed enemies. Execution Russell spent his last day peacefully in the Tower, spending the morning in devotions with the Scottish archbishop Alexander Burnet. He was beheaded by Jack Ketch on 21 July 1683 at Lincoln's Inn Fields. The execution was said to have been conducted quite poorly by Ketch, who later wrote a letter of apology. Russell was exonerated by reversal of his attainder under William III. Russell did not confess; in fact, he pleaded that he knew of no plot to execute the king and was not party to any conspiracy to do so. He is recorded as having admitted to conspiring to levy a war. Such a mini-invasion ultimately took place and was successful; simply put, Russell did not time his meetings correctly. He resigned himself rapidly to accept his fate with dignity while still stating his innocence, but was disappointed in the justice he had received, as laid out in his last letter before his death. Russell was later pardoned as having committed no part in a directly treasonous plot, casting the evidence as hearsay. The pardon remains an official document. Whigs later commemorated him as a mistreated martyr, supposedly put to death in retaliation for his efforts to exclude James from succession to the crown. Several people were tried and convicted of seditious libel for publishing works about his ghost. Reference in film and television In series 9 of the BBC genealogy programme, Who Do You Think You Are?, it was revealed that one of his eight-times great-granddaughters is the actress Celia Imrie. Although it was not mentioned in the episode in question, other descendants of William, Lord Russell include comedian Miranda