Quick Facts
Biography
Prince August Ferdinand of Prussia (German: August Ferdinand von Preußen; 23 May 1730, Berlin – 2 May 1813, Berlin) was a Prussian Prince and general, and Herrenmeister ("Master of the Knights") of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John. He belonged to the House of Hohenzollern, and was the youngest son of Frederick William I of Prussia by his wife Queen Sophia Dorothea.
Family
He was the youngest child of King Frederick William I of Prussia and his wife Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. He was also a younger brother of King Frederick the Great (Frederick II of Prussia), Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden, and Wilhelmine Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
Already at the age of 5, he joined the Infantry regiment „Kronprinz“. In 1740, his brother named him commander of Infantry regiment Nr 34. In 1756, he became Major General and accompanied his brother the King on his campaigns in Saxony, Bohemia and Silesia. He fought in the Battle of Breslau and the Battle of Leuthen. But in 1758, bad health forced him to leave the army.
On September 12, 1763, Ferdinand was elected as Master of the Knights of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John, a post he held until 1812.
Ferdinand is also remembered for having the Schloss Bellevue in the Berliner Tiergarten built.
Marriage and children
He married his niece, Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, on 27 September 1755. She was a daughter of his older sister Sophia Dorothea and her husband Margrave Frederick William of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Despite this family tie, she was only eight years younger than he, due to the significant age difference between him and his sister.
They had seven children:
- Princess Friederike Elisabeth Dorothea Henriette Amalie (1761–1773)
- Prince Friedrich Heinrich Emil Karl (1769–1773)
- Princess Friederike Luise (1770–1836), married to Prince Antoni Radziwiłł. Had issue.
- Prince Friedrich Christian Heinrich Ludwig (1771–1790)
- Prince Louis Ferdinand (1772–1806), killed in the Battle of Saalfeld. No issue.
- Prince Friedrich Paul Heinrich August (1776)
- Prince Augustus (1779–1843), never married.
Augustus died in Berlin on 2 May 1813, as the last surviving grandchild of George I of Great Britain. Elisabeth Louise would die seven years later, on 10 February 1820.
Ancestry
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