 The charge came to naught, and in 1656 Bard was sent from Bruges as special ambassador by Charles II to the Shah of Persia, to obtain financial help to recover the throne of England.The mission failed, as the Persian monarch was under obligations to England for aid rendered him at Ormuz and was therefore unable to comply with the request of Charles.Bard, who had been a Catholic for several years, lost his life in a windstorm in the desert of Arabia about 1660.