Carl Rudolf, Duke of Württemberg-Neuenstadt

Carl Rudolf (Neuenstadt am Kocher, 29 May 1667 – Neuenstadt am Kocher, 17 November 1742) was third and last Duke of Württemberg-Neuenstadt, army commander in Danish service and Field Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire.

Carl Rudolf was the youngest son of Frederick, who had founded the Württemberg-Neuenstadt branch in 1649, and his wife Clara Augusta von Braunschweig. The young Duke studied in Tübingen and Strassburg. His Grand Tour brought him to Geneva, the south of France, the court of Louis XIV, London and northern Germany.

Already in 1687 he raised a Württemberger Regiment, to support the Republic of Venice in their war against the Ottoman Empire in Greece. Carl Rudolf personally led a company of 150 men and fought during two years in Morea and Negroponte, until he was shot in the chest during the Siege of Negroponte. He survived, but the bullet remained in his lungs for the rest of life.

When Carl Rudolf returned to Württemberg in the beginning of 1690, the War of the Grand Alliance had already started. Carl Rudolf entered in Danish service and went to Ireland to support the Protestant William of Orange against the deposed Catholic King James II of England. The commander of the Danish troops was Carl Rudolf's elder brother Ferdinand Wilhelm. Both brothers fought in the victorious Battle of the Boyne.

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