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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier by Charles Spencer
4.0
‘It is hard to believe that one man packed so much into a single lifetime.’
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, grandson of King James I of England, was a famed warrior on the royalist side in the English civil war. Prince Rupert was born on 17 December, 1619 in Prague, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic) and died on November 29, 1682 in London England. His parents, Elizabeth and Frederick (the Elector Palatine) were briefly king and queen of Bohemia but were ejected when Rupert, their third child and second son, was only a few months old. Elizabeth (the Winter Queen) took refuge at The Hague with her growing family while Frederick tried unsuccessfully to regain the Palatine possessions stripped from him by the Holy Roman Emperor. When Frederick died in 1632, he left behind a widow and eleven living children.
By the time Prince Rupert came to England to the assistance of his maternal uncle Charles I in 1642, he was already a veteran soldier. He fought against Spain in the Netherlands (the Eighty Years’ War) and against the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany (the Thirty Years’ War). Prince Rupert was aged 22 when he was appointed commander of the Royalist cavalry. After his victory at Powick Bridge in 1642, against all the odds, he became a hero to many.
But I learned that there is more to Prince Rupert’s life than his dashing exploits during the English civil war. In 1646, he was banished from England, and led the royalist forces in exile. After the Restoration in 1660, he returned to England and was a senior British naval commander during the Second (1665-67) and Third Anglo-Dutch (1672-74) Wars. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Society and was involved in scientific invention. One of his inventions was a brass alloy; another was a more powerful form of gunpowder. Prince Rupert went on to serve as the first Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company and his name is found in various place names in Canada. He also travelled to Gambia and played a role in the early African slave trade.
Prince Rupert led an interesting and varied life and was definitely one of the more colourful Restoration figures. I enjoyed this biography of Prince Rupert and learned quite a lot more about his life and achievements.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, grandson of King James I of England, was a famed warrior on the royalist side in the English civil war. Prince Rupert was born on 17 December, 1619 in Prague, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic) and died on November 29, 1682 in London England. His parents, Elizabeth and Frederick (the Elector Palatine) were briefly king and queen of Bohemia but were ejected when Rupert, their third child and second son, was only a few months old. Elizabeth (the Winter Queen) took refuge at The Hague with her growing family while Frederick tried unsuccessfully to regain the Palatine possessions stripped from him by the Holy Roman Emperor. When Frederick died in 1632, he left behind a widow and eleven living children.
By the time Prince Rupert came to England to the assistance of his maternal uncle Charles I in 1642, he was already a veteran soldier. He fought against Spain in the Netherlands (the Eighty Years’ War) and against the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany (the Thirty Years’ War). Prince Rupert was aged 22 when he was appointed commander of the Royalist cavalry. After his victory at Powick Bridge in 1642, against all the odds, he became a hero to many.
But I learned that there is more to Prince Rupert’s life than his dashing exploits during the English civil war. In 1646, he was banished from England, and led the royalist forces in exile. After the Restoration in 1660, he returned to England and was a senior British naval commander during the Second (1665-67) and Third Anglo-Dutch (1672-74) Wars. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Society and was involved in scientific invention. One of his inventions was a brass alloy; another was a more powerful form of gunpowder. Prince Rupert went on to serve as the first Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company and his name is found in various place names in Canada. He also travelled to Gambia and played a role in the early African slave trade.
Prince Rupert led an interesting and varied life and was definitely one of the more colourful Restoration figures. I enjoyed this biography of Prince Rupert and learned quite a lot more about his life and achievements.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith