Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf (1708 – 12 January 1758) was the longest-standing

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "vale ...

and companion of

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

. The two young men met when the future Frederick II was still in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

for having attempted to run off with his former companion,

Hans Hermann von Katte Hans Hermann von Katte (28 February 1704 – 6 November 1730) was a Lieutenant of the Prussian Army, and a friend, tutor and possible lover of the future King Frederick II of Prussia, who was at the time the Crown Prince. Katte was executed by Fred ...

. At the time, Fredersdorf was four years older than the

heir to the throne An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

and served in the army, being the son of a peasant. Both contemporaries and historians

Tim Blanning Timothy Charles William Blanning (born 21 April 1942) is an English historian who served as Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge from 1992 to 2009. Career Timothy Charles William Blanning attended the King's Sch ...

, ''Frederick the Great: King of Prussia'', Random House 2016, pp. 55–56, p77Wolfgang Burgdorf, ''Friedrich der Große'' (Freiburg: Herder 2011), pp. 67ff. have speculated that Fredersdorf and Frederick II had a homosexual relationship, yet there is no definitive proof.

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

would later describe the relationship in his ''Memoires'' as, "This

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

, young, handsome, well made, and who played the

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, served to entertain the prisoner in more than one fashion."Compton, Lewis. ''Homosexuality and Civilisation'', Harvard University Press, 2003, p203 When Frederick moved to

Rheinsberg Palace Rheinsberg Palace (german: Schloss Rheinsberg) lies in the municipality of Rheinsberg, about northwest of Berlin in the German district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin. The palace on the eastern shore of the is a classic example of the so-called Frederici ...

with his wife in 1736, he made Fredersdorf his valet. When he ascended to the throne in 1740, he furthermore made him his private treasurer and, within less than a month, gave him the estate of Zernikow as a present. Later he also made him director of the royal

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. When the king moved to

Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

, his valet's bedroom adjoined his own, still shown today. The royal gardens director Heinrich Ludwig Manger later called the chamberlain ''the king's chamber lover'' in a book of 1789. For several years, Fredersdorf had been courting Caroline Marie Elisabeth Daum (* 27. July 1730 in Potsdam; † 10. March 1810 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

), the daughter of the rich arms manufacturer and banker Gottfried Adolph Daum. The king was unwilling to let his servant marry. However, once Fredersdorf, who was often ill, explained to Frederick that bettering his health urgently required someone to look after him, the king acquiesced. In a letter to Fredersdorf dated to November 1753, the king wrote: ''"marry sooner rather than later, if this will be of use to your alliativecare"''. The church book of the Potsdam Garrison Church records the marriage took place on the 30th of December, 1753. Caroline, who had been wed to serve as nursemaid, spent her marriage ''"as a virgin amidst a thousand worries"''. Despite this, the couple managed to come to an agreement, and Caroline lived ''"in blissful freedom, harmony, and inner joy"'' with her husband until his death.''„unter ..seliger Freyheit, Uebereinstimmung und innerer Heiterkeit“'' Fredersdorf was dismissed on 9 April 1757, being accused of financial irregularities. He died, ashamed of his lost honor, within less than a year. He was buried in Zernikow. He had no children. His wife however remarried and had children with her second husband, royal chamberlain Johann Labes. Later she raised her grandson, the poet

Ludwig Achim von Arnim Carl Joachim Friedrich Ludwig von Arnim (26 January 1781 – 21 January 1831), better known as Achim von Arnim, was a German poet, novelist, and together with Clemens Brentano and Joseph von Eichendorff, a leading figure of German Romanticism. ...

References

Sources

*
at Harvard University Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fredersdorf, Michael Gabriel 1708 births 1758 deaths German classical flautists Male lovers of royalty