Customer Reviews

Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier

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The next time a producer is ready to spend vast sums of money making a film of some already overly familiar subject, they would do well to consider Prince Rupert of the Rhine. His story...and even his name...are unknown to most of us, and yet here is a person who packs more adventure and accomplishment into a single lifetime than many of those figures with which we are already well aquainted. I cannot help but be awed by someone who undertakes such a wide variety of physical and mental challenges, and with such energy and determination that he continually impresses with each endeavor, regardless of the outcome. Indeed, how very few can claim to be so well-rounded. Rupert's successes and failures are presented here in a superb telling by Charles Spencer, whose knowledge of this period makes him an absorbing and eloquent guide. He adds a richness of understanding to the prince's life and times through many enjoyable insights from the eyes of others of that age, and does so with such smoothness and grace that they delightfully aid in the telling without once breaking his stride.

I knew little about Rupert, except for his role the English Civil War. While an defining part of Rupert's life, there is much more to the man than those few years.

Son of Elizabeth of Bohemia (the Winter Queen), nephew of Charles I, Rupert grew up in a household that was known for its rigid Protestant principles, and always a little cash-starved. His father had been driven from the throne of Bohemia, and which was both a glorious sacrifice and a deep failure.

Rupert came from royal stock, but without a clear role. He became a warrior, and Spenser debunks some of the ideas around how glorious a warrior he was, instead showing a somewhat impulsive and somewhat lucky leader. After the end of the Civil War, Rupert turns privateer admiral, leading dashing raids against Puritan England's vessels.

In later life, Rupert becomes the creator of exquisite etchings, a famous horseman. When his first cousin, Charles II is restored to the throne, he returns to England.

A thorough and engaging biography, well written.

Someone familiar with Stuart history might only know of Prince Rupert as Charles I's most notable (from both sides of the conflict) cavalier. This excellent book explores Rupert's entire life, which would be fascinating even without his civil war exploits (which are also described in brilliant detail). From his birth as the son of an exiled king, his interest in mezzotint art, his voyages in the Atlantic, his interest in the Hudson Bay Company, and the last years of his life back in England, this book presents the life of an interesting, and oft forgotten, Stuart.

Pair this book with Carola Oman's "The Winter Queen" to get a broader perspective on Stuart history.