Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1783–1851)

Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Karl of Prussia (3 July 1783 – 28 September 1851) was the son of Frederick William II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Not to be confused with Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1906–1940).

Prince Wilhelm of Prussia
Born(1783-07-03)3 July 1783
Berlin
Died28 September 1851(1851-09-28) (aged 68)
Berlin
SpouseLandgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg
Issue
among others...
Names
German: Friedrich Wilhelm Karl
English: Frederick William Charles
HouseHohenzollern
FatherFrederick William II of Prussia
MotherFrederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt
ReligionCalvinism (1783–1817)
Evangelical Christian Church (1817–1851)
Prussian Royalty
House of Hohenzollern
Frederick William II
Children
Princess Frederica Charlotte, Duchess of York and Albany
Frederick William III
Princess Christine
Prince Louis Charles
Wilhelmine, Queen of the Netherlands
Augusta, Electress of Hesse
Prince Henry
Prince Wilhelm

Life

Prince William was the fourth and youngest son of King Frederick William II of Prussia and Princess Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt. He served in the Guards from 1799 and fought in 1806 at the head of a cavalry brigade at Battle of Jena and Auerstedt. In December 1807, he traveled to Paris, to try to reduce the war burdens imposed on Prussia by Napoléon Bonaparte; he only managed to obtain a modest reduction. In 1808, he represented Prussia at the Congress of Erfurt. At the end of 1808, he accompanied his brother, King Frederick William III to St. Petersburg. Later, he had a prominent role in the transformation of Prussia and its army.

During the War of the Sixth Coalition of 1813, he was stationed in Blücher's headquarters. In the Battle of Lützen (1813) on 2 May, he commanded the reserve cavalry in the left wing of the army and during the Battle of Leipzig, he negotiated the union of the Northern army with Blucher's. Later he led the 8th Brigade of the Yorck's army corps on the Rhine and distinguished himself by bravery and military skills at the battles of Château-Thierry, Laon and outside Paris.

After the Treaty of Paris (1814), the Prince accompanied the king to London and then attended the negotiations of the Congress of Vienna. In 1815 during the Waterloo Campaign he commanded the reserve cavalry of the Prussian IV Corps (Bülow's). After the second Treaty of Paris, he lived mostly in Paris and sometimes at his Fischbach Castle in Kowary in the Riesengebirge mountains.

From 1824 to 1829 he was governor of the Confederate Fortress at Mainz; from 1830 to 1831 he was governor-general of the Rhine Province and Westphalia. In this capacity, on 20 September 1831 he opened the first rail line on German soil from Hinsbeck via the Deilbach valley to Nierenhof. Until then, the line had been called Deilthaler Eisenbahn ("Deil Valley Railway"); after its opening it was allowed to call itself Prinz-Wilhelm-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft.

In March 1834 he was appointed general of cavalry and re-appointed as governor of the federal fortress at Mainz. He should not be confused with his nephew of the same name, the future emperor William I, who was governor of the same fortress in 1854.

After the death of his wife, Marie Anna, on 14 April 1846, he withdrew from public life at his Fischbach castle.

Marriage and issue

He married his first cousin Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg, daughter of Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, and Caroline of Hesse-Darmstadt (his mother's sister), together they had nine children:

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:[1]

Ancestors

Siblings

Notes
  1. Preußen (1851). Königlich preußischer Staats-Kalender: für das Jahr .... 1851. Decker. p. 6.
  2. Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm II. ernannte Ritter" p. 13
  3. Lehmann, Gustaf (1913). Die Ritter des Ordens pour le mérite 1812–1913 [The Knights of the Order of the Pour le Mérite] (in German). Vol. 2. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn. p. 413.
  4. "Ritter-Orden: Militärischer Maria-Theresien-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Kaiserthumes Österreich, 1816, p. 11, retrieved 15 September 2020
  5. "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Bayern (1849). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern: 1849. Landesamt. pp. 9.
  7. H. Tarlier (1854). Almanach royal officiel, publié, exécution d'un arrête du roi (in French). Vol. 1. p. 37.
  8. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch für das Königreich Hannover. Berenberg. 1850. p. 34.
  9. "Militaire Willems-Orde: Preussen, Friedrich Wilhelm Karl, Prinz von" [Military William Order: Prussia, Frederick William Charles, Prince of]. Ministerie van Defensie (in Dutch). 8 July 1815. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  10. Almanach de la cour: pour l'année ... 1817. l'Académie Imp. des Sciences. 1817. p. 95.
  11. Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1851), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 8
  12. Sveriges och Norges Stats-kalender 1838, p. 498
  13. Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 189
  14. Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768., pp. 17 (father's side), 69 (mother's side)

References
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