Prince Charles of Prussia
third son of Frederick William III of Prussia (1801–1883)
Prince Frederick Charles Alexander of Prussia (German: Friedrich Karl Alexander; 29 June 1801 – 21 January 1883) was a younger son of Frederick William III of Prussia. He served as a Prussian general for much of his adult life and became the first Herrenmeister (Grand Master) of the Order of Saint John after its restoration as a chivalric order. Nevertheless, he is perhaps remembered more often for his patronage of art and for his sizable collections of art and armor.
Background and family
Charles was born in Charlottenburg Palace near Berlin, the third son of Frederick William III of Prussia by his first wife, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was named Frederick Charles Alexander at birth, but came to be known as Charles, because there were several other Fredericks in his family at that time. His father was already King of Prussia by the time of Charles' birth, and both of his elder brothers were to succeed to the throne, while his elder sister Charlotte would marry Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. Charles also had two younger sisters, Alexandra and Louise, and a younger brother, Albert. His male line granddaughter Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia married Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria.
Army career
Prince Charles entered the Prussian army in 1811 at the age of ten, with the rank of lieutenant in a regiment of the guards. In 1819, he became a member of the Prussian Staatsrat.
The public source identifies “Prince Charles of Prussia” as third son of Frederick William III of Prussia (1801–1883). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Prince, Charles and Prussia.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q442587. VIAF identifies the subject as 60434854. The Library of Congress control number is n82124226. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1801, 1883, 1811 and 1819.
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This entry incorporates text from “Prince Charles of Prussia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.