Prince Rupert of the Rhine Biography

Prince Rupert was a distinguished German soldier and admiral who commanded the Royalist cavalry during the English Civil War. Born in Prague, his full title was Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Bavaria, but he came to be known as Prince Rupert of the Rhine. His father briefly ruled Bohemia but was later forced to flee to Netherlands, where Rupert spent his early years. After finishing his education, Rupert became a soldier and served in the Thirty Years War which gave him valuable military experience. Later, he joined Charles I's army in the English Civil War and was appointed to lead the Royalist cavalry. With numerous military victories, he earned a formidable reputation for himself as an admiral and later went on to lead the relief of the siege of York but faced defeat by the Parliamentary army, losing York and the north of England for the Royalists. Next, he took part in the Battle of Naseby at which the Royalists were defeated which also resulted in Rupert surrendering the city of Bristol to parliament. Subsequently, the king dismissed him from service and Rupert left for exile in Holland, spending the next several years commanding small naval squadrons in West Indies and Germany. Later, after the restoration of the monarchy, Rupert returned to England where he held a series of British naval commands and also fought in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars before dying from pleurisy in his sixties.