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Prince Rupert had a varied career.

He was a soldier from a young age, fighting against Spain in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years ' War ( 1568 – 1648 ), and against the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany during the Thirty Years ' War ( 1618 – 48 ).

Aged 23, he was appointed commander of the Royalist cavalry during the English Civil War ( 1642-46 ), becoming the archetypal Cavalier of the war and ultimately the senior Royalist general.

He surrendered after the fall of Bristol and was banished from England.

He served under Louis XIV of France against Spain, and then as a Royalist privateer in the Caribbean.

Following the Restoration, Rupert returned 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.

Rupert died in England in 1682, aged 62.