Worcester, officially known as the City of Worcester, is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of the southern suburbs of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 100,000 people. The River Severn runs through the middle of the city, overlooked by the 12th-century Worcester Cathedral. The site of the final battle of the Civil War, Worcester was where Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeated King Charles II's Cavaliers, cementing the English Interregnum, the eleven-year period during which England and Wales became a republic. Worcester was the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain and, for much of his life, the composer Sir Edward Elgar. It houses the Lea & Perrins factory where the traditional Worcestershire Sauce is made, and is home to one of the UK's fastest growing universities, the University of Worcester.