
Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge (17 March 1611-28 May 1662) was a Scottish cavalry general in the service of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War and the Polish-Swedish Wars.
Biography[]
Robert Douglas was born in Traprain Law, Scotland in 1611, and he became a page in Swedish service in 1627 and served in the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War. He fought at the Battle of Wittstock as a colonel, and he distinguished himself under Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven. He opted to remain in Swedish service, even as most of his fellow Scottish expatriates returned to Scotland to fight the English during the Bishops' Wars. He commanded the left wing of the Swedish army at the 1645 Battle of Jankau, and he distinguished himself at the 1648 Battle of Zusmarshausen. Queen Christina of Sweden appointed him a baron in 1651 and 1654, and he accompanied King Charles X Gustav of Sweden at the Battle of Warsaw in 1656 and became a Field Marshal in 1657. He went on to serve as Governor of Estonia and Livonia from 1658 to 1661, and he died in 1662.