Born in Bohemia, he went to England and joined the Royalist side just before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. He made his name in the early years of the war as a leader of cavalry, but after a series of victorious engagements was defeated by Parliamentarian forces at Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645). He later lived chiefly in France until the Restoration (1660), when he returned to England and commanded naval operations against the Dutch (1665–67 and 1672–74). In 1670 Rupert became the first governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada. He was deeply interested in art and science, and was also responsible for the introduction of mezzotint engraving into England.