Prince Rupert of the Rhine

Rupert became romantically involved with Frances Bard, daughter of the English explorer and Civil War veteran, Henry Bard. Although, Rupert denied Frances’ claim about their secret marriage, he acknowledged the identity of their son, Dudley Bard.

During the late 1660s, Prince Rupert fell in love with Margaret Hughes, an attractive Drury Lane actress. The couple did not marry but Rupert acknowledged their daughter, Ruperta.

Prince Rupert died on November 29, 1682, at his house at Spring Gardens, Westminster, Middlesex, England after a bout of pleurisy.

Prince Rupert was born on December 17, 1619, in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, to Frederick V, an Elector Palatine and head of the Protestant Union, and his wife, Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England and Anne of Denmark.

In 1620, after facing a crushing defeat at the hands of his Catholic enemies at the Battle of White Mountain, Rupert’s family fled from Bohemia to the Dutch Republic where he spent most of his childhood.

Rupert was a bright child and learnt to speak some English, Czech and French by the age of three. He mastered German at a young age and also excelled in arts.

At the age of 13, Rupert lost his father and thereafter spent his teenage years in England between the courts of The Hague and his uncle, King Charles I. Rupert became a soldier quite early, serving as a military lifeguard to Prince Frederick.

In 1638, while fighting against the imperial forces in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) which earned him sufficient military experience, Prince Rupert was captured and imprisoned in Linz for three years.

Within months after his release from captivity in Germany in 1641, Prince Rupert traveled to England and joined King Charles I shortly before the outbreak of the English Civil War in August 1642.

After receiving command of the Royalist cavalry at the age of 23, he directed his troops to achieve a series of English victories. He routed a Parliamentarian force in the first skirmish of the war at Powick Bridge near Worcester and later fought in the first major battle of the civil war at Edgehill in October 1642.

In July 1643, he took Bristol and later relieved Newark, Nottinghamshire, in February 1644, getting hold of most of Lancashire in June 1644. Same year, Rupert led the relief of the siege of York but was defeated by a Parliamentary army at Marston Moor, losing York and the north of England to the Roundheads.

In November 1644, Rupert was appointed the Captain-General of the Royalist army. The following year, he fought in the Battle of Naseby against Fairfax's New Model Army which culminated in another Royalist defeat.

Later, King Charles I sent him to hold the city of Bristol but when Rupert surrendered Bristol to the Parliamentarians, the king dismissed him from the service and Rupert was banished by Parliament from England, in July 1646.