Prince Rupert

About this book

This book takes up the story of Prince Rupert from 1647, when his army career came to an end, and examines his work as an admiral, then sometimes known as general-at-sea -- the first book to study this aspect of his life in any detail. When Rupert first took command of the Royalist fleet the Commonwealth government was firmly established in England. For the next four and a half years with no base he kept the Royalist flag flying in the approaches to the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Caribbean, harried by Parliamentary commanders and buffeted by storms. It was a tremendous achievement. After the Restoration Rupert returned to England where until his death twenty-two years later he played a prominent role in the government. His career at sea continued in the Second and Third Dutch wars, when, as commander-in-chief of the fleet, he took part in some of the most heavily contested battles in naval history. Finally, in 1673 he was made in effect First Lord of the Admiralty -- a post he held for the next six years. As in General Kitson's earlier book, Prince Rupert: Portrait of a Solider (to which this is a sequel), Rupert is here brought to life an engaging, vigorous, supremely intelligent man; while the reader is also given a vivid picture of life at sea in the seventeenth century. -- Inside jacket flap.