Rupert of the Rhine

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Rupert of the Rhine popular name for Prince Rupert (1619–82), English Royalist general, son of Frederick V (elector of the Palatinate) and Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen, and nephew of Charles I. The Royalist leader of cavalry, he initially won a series of victories, but was defeated by Parliamentarian forces at Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645). After the Restoration he settled in England; he was one of the founders of the Hudson's Bay Company and (reflecting his interest in science) of the Royal Society.
Prince Rupert's drop a pear-shaped bubble of glass with a long tail, made by dropping melted glass into water. Prince Rupert's drops have the property, due to internal strain, of disintegrating explosively when the tail is broken off or the surface scratched.
Rupert's Land a historical region of northern and western Canada, roughly corresponding to what is now Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Alberta, and the southern part of the Northwest Territories. It was originally granted in 1670 by Charles II to the Hudson' Bay Company and named after Prince Rupert. Also called Prince Rupert's Land.

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