Count Palatine of the Rhine; Anglo-German soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist
1619 CE
to 1682 CE
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria (German: Ruprecht Pfalzgraf bei Rhein, Herzog von Bayern), commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, (17 December 1619 – 29 November 1682) is a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century.
Rupert is a younger son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Elizabeth Stuart, the older brother of Electress Sophia, and nephew of King Charles I of England, who creates him Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness.
Prince Rupert has a varied career.
He is a soldier from a young age, fighting against Spain in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), and against the Holy Roman Empire in Germany during the Thirty Years War (1618–48).
Aged 23, he is appointed commander of the Royalist cavalry during the English Civil War, becoming the archetypical Cavalier of the war and ultimately the senior Royalist general.
He surrenders after the fall of Bristol and is banished from England.
He serves under Louis XIV of France against Spain, and then as a Royalist privateer in the Caribbean.
Following the Restoration, Rupert returns to England, becoming a senior British naval commander during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch wars, engaging in scientific invention, art, and serving as the first Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Prince Rupert dies in England in 1682, aged 62.
Rupert is considered to have been a quick-thinking and energetic cavalry general, but ultimately undermined by his youthful impatience in dealing with his peers during the Civil War.
In the Interregnum, Rupert continued the conflict against Parliament by sea from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, showing considerable persistence in the face of adversity.
As the head of the Royal Navy in his later years, he showed greater maturity and made impressive and long-lasting contributions to the Royal Navy's doctrine and development.
As a colonial governor, Rupert shaped the political geography of modern Canada and played a role in the early African slave trade.
Rupert's varied and numerous scientific and administrative interests combined with his considerable artistic skills made him one of the more colorful individuals of the Restoration period.
