Born at Prague in Bohemia on 17 December 1619, Prince Rupert was the third son of Charles I's sister Elizabeth (the "Winter Queen") by her marriage to Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate. Frederick's claim to the throne of Bohemia prompted an invasion by the forces of the Hapsburg Emperor at the beginning of the Thirty Years War, and in November 1620 the family was driven into exile at the court of the Prince of Orange in Holland, where Rupert grew up. He was a gifted child who learned all the major European languages at an early age, was skilled in mathematics and developed precocious tastes in art and music. However, his headstrong, impetuous nature earned him the family nickname Robert the Devil.
Rupert's overriding interest was the military. In 1633 at the age of 14, he accompanied the Prince of Orange on campaign at the siege of Rhynberg. In 1635, he joined the Prince's lifeguard during the invasion of Brabant. The following year he accompanied his elder brother Charles Louis — now the Elector of the Palatinate — on a visit to England. Rupert made a good impression on his uncle King Charles I, was awarded an honorary MA at Oxford and had his portrait painted by Van Dyck. Rupert returned to military service with the Prince of Orange in 1637 and was present at the siege of Breda. He then joined Charles Louis and an army of Scottish mercenaries led by James King (later Lord Eythin) in an invasion of Westphalia, which was defeated by the Austrian General Hatzfeld at the battle of Vlotho in October 1638. Rupert was taken prisoner and held at Linz in Austria for three years. Resisting attempts to convert him to Catholicism, Rupert alleviated his years of captivity by learning the art of engraving, by studying military textbooks and manuals, and by a love affair with the daughter of the governor of Linz. Thanks to the diplomatic efforts of King Charles of England, he was released in October 1641 on condition that he would never again bear arms against the Emperor.
The outbreak of civil war in England presented Rupert with an opportunity to continue his military career. In August 1642, Rupert and his younger brother Prince Maurice arrived in England accompanied by a staff of English and Scottish veterans from the European wars to fight for King Charles. The Order of the Garter was conferred upon him and he was appointed commander of the King's cavalry. At first Rupert was welcomed as an experienced soldier. His charisma had an inspirational effect on the Royalist cause, but his youthful arrogance and foreign manners soon alienated many of the King's senior advisers, particularly as he was exempted from taking orders from anyone but King Charles himself.
Rupert won a reputation as a dashing cavalry commander by routing a Parliamentarian force at Powick Bridge near Worcester soon after the beginning of the war. At the battle of Edgehill in October 1643, Rupert's cavalry charge completely routed the Parliamentarian horse but, carried away by the chase, Rupert pursued them too far and left the battlefield — thus forfeiting the chance of inflicting a decisive defeat on the Roundheads. After Edgehill, Rupert proposed an immediate cavalry strike on London before the Earl of Essex's army could return, but senior Royalists prevailed upon the King to advance slowly on the capital with the whole army. By the time they arrived, the City defences were organised against them and the King had lost his best chance of winning the war.
Rupert's military achievements early in the war created a legend around him of great potency. He was the most energetic of the Royalist commanders, capturing Bristol in July 1643, relieving Newark in March 1644 and seizing most of Lancashire in June 1644. The relative ease of his relief march to York in 1644 was partly due to his fearsome reputation amongst the Roundheads, some of whom credited him with supernatural powers. His dog Boye, which accompanied him everywhere, was said to be the Prince's familiar spirit. However, due in part to confusing orders from the King and a lack of co-operation from his colleagues, Rupert was defeated by the combined armies of Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters at Marston Moor in July 1644, which lost York and the north of England to the Royalists.
In November 1644, Rupert was appointed Captain-General of the Royalist army. Although he insisted that the Prince of Wales be nominally appointed commander-in-chief, this promotion sharpened the hostility between Rupert and several of the King's advisers, notably Lord Digby. He also clashed with the erratically brilliant Lord Goring, who was granted an independent military command by the King, thus undermining Rupert's authority. These dissensions continually frustrated Rupert's attempts to organise a co-ordinated Royalist campaign. He captured Leicester in May 1645, but was badly beaten by Fairfax's New Model Army at the decisive battle of Naseby the following month.
After Naseby, Rupert realised that the Royalist cause was hopeless and advised King Charles to seek a treaty with Parliament — but the King believed that he could still win the war. Encouraged by Digby, the King came to believe that Rupert was plotting against him. When Rupert surrendered Bristol to Fairfax in September 1645, King Charles abruptly dismissed him from his service. Insulted at the stain on his honour, Rupert forced his way into the King's presence at Newark in October 1645 and demanded a court-martial. The verdict cleared Rupert's name, but he had become estranged from the King and played no further part in Royalist military campaigns. After the fall of Oxford in June 1646, Parliament banished Rupert and Prince Maurice from England.
Following his departure from England, Rupert took command of a contingent of exiled English troops serving in the army of France in its war against Spain. He served under Marshal Gassion in the campaign of 1647 at the sieges of Landrécy and La Bassée, during which he received a head wound that obliged him to leave the army for a time. Now forgiven by King Charles, Rupert joined Queen Henrietta Maria and the Prince of Wales in exile at the court of St Germain near Paris in October 1647, where he met his old adversary Lord Digby. Rupert challenged Digby, and only the Queen's intervention prevented them from fighting a duel. In March 1648, Rupert fought Lord Percy, another of his enemies among the English Royalists, whom he wounded.
During the Second Civil War, Rupert accompanied Prince Charles when he took command of a number of warships that had defected from Parliament. The naval campaign was unsuccessful and the Prince's fleet was chased back to Holland by the Earl of Warwick in August 1648. Early in 1649, Rupert and Prince Maurice took command of the eight ships remaining in the Royalist squadron and sailed to southern Ireland with orders to support the Marquis of Ormond. From his base at Kinsale, Rupert ran supplies to the Royalist garrison on the Scilly Isles and preyed upon Commonwealth shipping in the Channel, selling the ships and cargoes he captured and donating the proceeds to the Royalist war-effort.
In the summer of 1649, Rupert was driven from Irish waters by the Commonwealth General-at-Sea Robert Blake. He sailed to Portugal, where King John IV promised him protection. Rupert continued to raid English merchantmen until Blake arrived off Portugal in March 1650 and blockaded Rupert's squadron in the River Tagus. He finally eluded Blake and escaped in October 1650. Denounced as a pirate, and with Blake's powerful squadron in pursuit, Rupert scoured the Mediterranean and the Azores for prizes. He preyed upon English and Spanish ships, regarding Spain as an ally of the Commonwealth, and sold the captured goods to the Portuguese. In the spring of 1652, Rupert sailed to the coast of West Africa where he took several Spanish prizes and was wounded in a fight with natives. He crossed the Atlantic with his four remaining ships in the summer of 1652, only to find that the Royalist enclave on Barbados, where he hoped to find shelter, had capitulated to the Commonwealth. In a storm off the Virgin Islands in September 1652, Rupert lost two of his ships, one of which was commanded by Prince Maurice. The loss of his younger brother was a devastating blow to Rupert. Sick and exhausted, he returned to Europe in March 1653.
At first, Rupert was warmly welcomed at Charles II's court-in-exile in Paris. However, his reception turned sour when it was realised that the treasure he had brought back with him was negligible. Reluctant to become involved in the poisonous political intrigues of the exiled court, Rupert left Paris in June 1654. He spent the next six years in obscurity. He quarrelled over his inheritance with his elder brother Charles Louis, who was restored to the Palatinate, and was unable to find suitable military employment with the ending of the Thirty Years War.
After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Rupert returned to England. Despite their quarrel of 1654, Rupert was well-received by the King. He was granted an annual pension and appointed to the Privy Council in 1662, his particular concern being the Navy. He also took an interest in overseas commercial ventures, becoming the first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. The territory granted to the Company was named "Prince Rupert's Land" in his honour. Continuing his interest in scientific experiments, Rupert became a founder member of the Royal Society. He experimented with the manufacture of gunpowder, the boring of guns and the casting of shot, and invented a modified form of brass known as "prince's metal". During his exile in Europe, he had become skilled in mezzotint engraving, which he is said to have introduced into England.
Rupert held naval commands in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars of 1665-7 and 1672-4. He was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty from 1673-9. He died on 29 November 1682 at his house at Spring Gardens near the Palace of Whitehall, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Prince Rupert was Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness in the English peerage. He never married, but left two illegitimate children. His sister, Sophia, was the mother of George I, the first Hanoverian King of Britain.
References:
John Barratt, Cavaliers, the Royalist Army at War 1642-46, 2000
C.H. Firth, Rupert, Prince, count palatine of the Rhine and duke of Bavaria, DNB, 1897
Patrick Morrah, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, 1976
Ian Roy, Rupert, prince and count palatine of the Rhine and duke of Cumberland, Oxford DNB, 2004
Links:
Prince Rupert's dog
Examples of Prince Rupert's mezzotints: The Standard Bearer, The Little Executioner