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Prince Frederick Henry Albrecht of Prussia was born on 04 October 1809 as the fifth son and the last of nine children of King Frederick William III and Queen Luise in exile in Königsberg.
He was the brother of King Frederick William IV and the later Emperor William I. He joined the Prussian army in 1819 as Second Lieutenant , where by 1852 he rose through the ranks to the position of a Cavalry General. In 1865 he was appointed as Chief of Staff of the third unit of the army.
In the war of 1866 against Austria, he commanded the first army’s cavalry corps and took part in the battles at Münchengrätz, Gitschin and Königgrätz. At the beginning of the war against France in 1870, he was in command of the divided 4th cavalry division and actively participated at the top of the division in the campaign of the third army from Weißenburg to Paris. Furthermore, he was ordered to advance towards Orléans in order to put the French Loire Army under his surveillance.
Later on the division successfully participated in General von der Tann’s, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg’s and Prince Frederick Carl’s operations until the end of the Loire campaign. In 1871 Prince Albrecht was appointed Honorary Field Marshal.
He died on 14 October 1872 of the hardships he suffered in the German-French War. Prince Albrecht of Prussia was laid to rest at his parents’ mausoleum at castle Charlottenburg in Berlin.
What caused a Prussian Hohenzollern Prince to change his domicile to the Royal Saxon capital when Prussian’s relationship to Saxony seemed to be quite unstable even between the regency of August the Strong and Emperor William I?
The answers can easily be found:
For one reason the royal houses of the Wettins and the Hohenzollern were on friendly terms even despite political unstable relations.
The most important explanation, however, can be found in Prince Albrecht’s life story. Just as full of obstacles his military career was, as little free of obstacles was his family background.
Following his family’s dynastic interest and the Hohenzollern family regulations he married his first wife Princess Marianne of the Netherlands in 1830. This marriage produced three children – Charlotte (1831), Albrecht (1837) and Alexandrine (1842).
According to historic sources despite initial strong affection this marriage was of little happiness in the following years and was therefore divorced in 1849. His endeavours to legalize his newly developed love affair with the Baroness of Rauch by means of a marriage met strong objections on the side of the Hohenzollern family, particularly so on his brother’s, King Frederick William IV, side.
A Prussian Prince not only had to follow dynastic and state interests in marriage matters but also from approximately 1810 onwards the strict Hohenzollern family regulations.
A marriage at a Prince’s rank signified great loss in many respects:
At the level of the lesser nobility (barons, counts) any strengthening of the power of the state, forming of any long-term alliances or the conclusion of any treaties were rendered impossible. In the case of divorce of a marriage to a Princess, new domiciles and the children’s education befitting one’s social standing had to be provided for at high costs, and similar efforts had to be made in the case of a re-marriage, which in Prince Albrecht’s case was a matter of several millions. Marianne of the Netherlands was given the Schinkel building castle Camenz in Lower Silesia, home of her children with Albrecht.
Prince Albrecht was given a sum of several millions Goldmarks in order to set up his own home again.
Since Rosalie von Rauch was denied admittance to any states governed by Prussia upon marriage, Prince Albrecht had the castle erected in Saxony.
After Price Albrecht’s eldest brother’s (William IV) death, the strict regulations were somewhat loosened. Emperor William I paid several visits to castle Albrechtsberg and on this occasion acknowledged Rosalie von Rauch as his sister-in-law.
Apparently the second marriage, which produced the children William (1854) and Frederick (1857) of Hohenau was happier. Rosalie von Rauch, a »einfache Freiin«, was raised to the rank of a countess in order to bridge the difference in rank to her spouse.
The sons of the second marriage were not entitled to inherit the title of the Hohenzollern, but remained the Counts of Hohenau. Both sons, William and Frederick, served in the Prussian army. After Prince Albrecht’s death (in 1872) the Countess of Hohenau led a secluded life at castle Albrechtsberg until her early death in 1879. The two sons William and Frederick inherited the estate. It was only after his brother Frederick’s death (in 1914) that William took up residency at the castle. In 1925 he sold the castle and the property to the city of Dresden. The Hohenau family moved in a house on Bautzner Straße no. 98, where they lived in modest circumstances.
In 1930 William of Hohenau died. At Easter the same year the castle grounds were opened to the public.
