Prince Frederick Henry Ludwig of Prussia (German:Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig; 18 January 1726 – 3 August 1802) was aPrussian general, statesman, and diplomat. He was a son of KingFrederick William I of Prussia and PrincessSophia Dorothea of Hanover, and the younger brother ofFrederick the Great. Prince Henry led Prussian armies in theSilesian Wars and theSeven Years' War, having never lost a battle in the latter. In 1786,he was suggested as a candidate to be a monarch in the United States.

Prince Henry of Prussia
Portrait of Prince Henry byJohann Heinrich Tischbein, 1769
Born	(1726-01-18)18 January 1726 Berlin,Prussia
Died	3 August 1802(1802-08-03) (aged 76) Rheinsberg,Prussia
Burial	Rheinsberg Palace,Rheinsberg, Germany
Spouse	Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Kassel ​ ​ (m. 1752)​
Names German:Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig Frederick Henry Ludwig
House	Hohenzollern
Father	Frederick William I of Prussia
Mother	Sophia Dorothea of Hanover
Signature

Born inBerlin, Henry was the 13th child of KingFrederick William I of Prussia and PrincessSophia Dorothea of Hanover.

When he was only 14, Henry was appointed as Colonel of the 35thInfanterieregiment by Frederick after he became king in 1740, leading Henry to participate in the first twoSilesian Wars. Henry's conflicts with his older brother, KingFrederick II of Prussia, are almost legendary. Especially when he was young, the king bullied his little brother much like his father had bullied him. Although remarkably similar in appearance and tastes (both were fond of the arts and French literature, and both were exceptional military commanders) Henry resented being in Frederick's shadow while the latter excluded his brothers from all decisions about state affairs. Nonetheless, he loyally served as one of his brother's top generals throughout Frederick's reign. His military achievements eventually earned him the respect of his brother. Henry tended to be less aggressive than the King in battle; although he never won a victory of the scale ofRossbach orLeuthen (two of Frederick's greatest victories), his caution served him well as he was never defeated on the battlefield like his brother atKolín orKunersdorf.^{[citation needed]} Henry lived in the shadow of his older brother and sometimes criticized the king's military strategies and foreign policies, although in later years the brothers became closer. In 1753 he published his memoirs under the pseudonym "Maréchal Gessler".^[1]

On 25 June 1752, Henry marriedPrincess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Kassel inCharlottenburg Palace, but they had no children. Henry lived inRheinsberg Palace after receiving it as a gift from his brother in 1744 who also had a grand palace built for him in Berlin between 1748 and 1753 (today the main building of theHumboldt University of Berlin). He also had an apartment in theCity Palace, Potsdam, since he was regularly present at his brother's court there and in nearbySanssouci.

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  Rheinsberg Palace
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  Prince Henry's Palace, Berlin

Despite the marriage, he scarcely concealed his passion for other men and developed intimate friendships with the actor Pierre-Jean Fromentin de Blainville and the French emigre Count La Roche-Aymon. From 1758, his adjutant and main favorite wasFriedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth, the later field marshal, but in 1766 they fell out over the prince's wife.^[2] His longtime favourite,Major von Kaphengst, exploited the prince's interest in him to lead a dissipated, wasteful life atSchloss Meseberg, an estate not far from Rheinsberg which Henry had bought for him in 1774 for which he had sold 29 paintings from his collection toCatherine the Great.^[3][4] In 1784, Henry had to take out a loan of 130,000thalers in France to pay off Kaphengst's debt; KingLouis XVI of France personally vouched for it.^[5] But then he separated from his lover. The king, himselfpresumed to have been homosexual, tolerated his brother's love affairs, sometimes even pursuing them with jealousy,^[6] but despised Kaphengst and refused his promotion to colonel whereupon the latter took his leave.^[7]

Henry successfully led Prussian armies as a general during theThird Silesian War (1756–1763, part of theSeven Years' War). He greatly distinguished himself during his brother's victory at the Battle of Prague and fought during the Prussians' subsequent defeat at Kolin. After thePrussian Army's initial success against one wing of the jointRussian andAustrian Armies in theBattle of Kunersdorf, Henry urged his brother Frederick to stop attacking.^{[citation needed]} The king, who had already sent a message of victory toBerlin, pressed the attack. The day ended with a virtually destroyed Prussian army, a virtually defenselessKingdom of Prussia, and a complete victory by the Russo-Austrian force. Afterwards, Henry reorganized the routed Prussian forces. Frederick came to rely on his brother as commander of the Prussian forces in the east, Frederick's strategic flank. Henry later won his most famous victory atFreiberg in 1762, the final battle of the war between Austria and Prussia; during subsequent peace negotiations, Frederick wrote to him, "You alone have the honor of breaking down Austrian obstinacy."^{[citation needed]} The statements of the contemporaries culminate in the legendary praise of the king, often quoted by biographers, that his brother was the only general who did not make any mistakes in the Seven Years' War.^[8]

After the Seven Years' War, Henry worked as a shrewd diplomat who helped plan theFirst Partition of Poland through trips toStockholm andSaint Petersburg. During theWar of the Bavarian Succession he commanded one of the two Prussian main armies, but saw little action. In the 1780s he made two diplomatic trips to France. He was a friend ofJean-Louis Favier.

Although the king treated him generously, which of course did not prevent Henry from often being short of money, Henry attempted to secure aprincipality for himself and twice tried to becomeKing of Poland, but was opposed by a displeased Frederick. The king frustrated Henry's attempt to become ruler of a kingdomCatherine II of Russia planned to create inWallachia.^{[citation needed]}

In 1786, eitherNathaniel Gorham, then-President of the Continental Congress,^[9] orFriedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the Prussian general who served in theContinental Army,^[10] suggested toAlexander Hamilton that Henry should become monarch of the United States, but the prince declined and the new nation had no support for monarchy.^[11]

After the death of Frederick in 1786, Henry hoped to become more influential in the Prussian government as the advisor of his nephew, the new KingFrederick William II of Prussia. Although he was less influential than he hoped, Henry was more important during the last years of his life in advising KingFrederick William III, who began his reign in 1797.

In 1784, Henry had made a journey of several months toParis; in October 1788 he went there for the second time, frequented thecourt of Versailles and met the politically influential circles of the capital, and also visited theDuke of Orléans (soon to become"Philippe Égalité") in theChâteau du Raincy. He returned to Rheinsberg in good time in March 1789, before theStorming of the Bastille began in July.^[12]

From 1798 to 1801 Henry spent a few weeks in August atKönigs Wusterhausen Castle, his father's hunting lodge and favorite place to stay, out of sentimental memories to where he had spent his childhood vacations. His youngest brotherFerdinand accompanied him there several times.

Voltaire had seen in Frederick the embodiment of his "Philosopher King". Arguably, Henry was by deed the man Voltaire had hoped the "Age of Reason" would produce.^{[citation needed]} The Swedish ambassador, countCarl Gustaf Tessin, a fierce opponent of the king, had written as early as 1760: "Prince Henry is equal to his royal brother in the art of war, superior in virtue. Many Henrys would make the world happy, just as two Fredericks would destroy it."^[13]

Henry died atRheinsberg Palace on 3 August 1802, at the age of 76.

• Chester V. Easum,Prince Henry of Prussia: Brother of Frederick the Great (The University of Wisconsin Press, 1942). 403 pages.
• G.P. Gooch,Frederick the Great. The Ruler, the Writer, the Man (Alfred A. Knopf, 1947). pp 248–282.
• Eva Ziebura:Prinz Heinrich von Preußen. Biographie (in German), publisher; Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Berlin, 496 pages, 2004,ISBN 3746617707

• Biography at Preussen.de(in German)