Life at Sans Souci

Voltaire was eventually drawn to reside at Sans Souci, a newly built palace where Frederick surrounded himself with freethinking men--no women were allowed--many of whom, such as Count Algarotti or the philosopher La Mettrie, were homosexual. He describes the utter freedom of their suppers there (for instance, discussing Plato's theory of the ) and the exact way in which Frederick would pick handsome soldiers for his sexual "schoolboy games."

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Although some have insinuated that Voltaire invented these stories of life at Sans Souci to avenge the humiliation he suffered after his quarrel with Frederick, such is unlikely, for their banter picked up as soon as their correspondence started again. One only need read Voltaire's famous letter of May 2, 1759, complimenting Frederick's victory at Rosbach, which deals in a campy way with the "beautiful asses" of the fleeing French soldiers, to understand to what degree the king was open to his close entourage.

Frederick's Lovers

Apart from Katte, a few of Frederick's great loves are known: Fredersdorf, the handsome guard assigned to him after his escape, who eventually became his Majordomo; Count Algarotti, the seductive Italian writer; and the abbé Bastiani, a Venetian who was made Canon of Breslaw (Wroclaw) Cathedral and who did not hesitate to show his compatriot Casanova the love letters he had received from the king.

Close to him also, but showing the same tastes in a more outrageous manner, was his brother Prince Henry. Voltaire called him a Potsdamite (that is, a Sodomite), and he was reputed to recruit only homosexuals in his regiments.

The Homosexual Subculture and Reaction

With such examples from above, it is no wonder that a homosexual subculture developed in Berlin. In 1782, Briefe über die Galanterien von Berlin (Letters on the Gallantries of Berlin), a book exposing the city's sexual underworld, attributed to one Johann Friedel, described public meeting places and even a boy-brothel that testify to the loose morals of the "warm brothers" as homosexuals called themselves.

If Frederick's friends and some of his subjects took inspiration from his homosexuality, his enemies did not hesitate to attack him on that front. Several pamphlets were published containing insinuations of homosexuality, such as Idée de la personne, de la manière de vivre, et de la cour du roi de Prusse, juin 1752 and Les Matinées du roi de Prusse (1766, translated as Royal Mornings, 1798).

The philosopher Diderot, well informed and not prone to exaggeration, wrote in March 1760 a note on Frederick in which he says: "The only one thing that this admirable flute player was missing was a mouthpiece that should have been a little cleaner." He also penned a poem entitled Parallèle between Caesar and Frederick (undated) that includes the statement: "Caesar was generous, Frederick is miserly. When I compare them I see but one point in common, namely that they were both . But there wasn't a Roman lady who was worthwhile with whom Caesar did not sleep, whereas His Prussian Majesty never touched a woman, not even his own wife."

During the Seven Years War, Frederick was almost "outed" by the Duc de Choiseul, the French prime minister. Frederick had written an offensive poem about the love of Louis XV for his mistress Madame de Pompadour; in response, Choiseul had had a poem written that ended thus: "How can you condemn tenderness, you who have known ecstasy only in the arms of your regimental drummers."

Conclusion

In his last years, Frederick, having established Prussia as a major European power, doubled its size, and set the stage for a unified Germany, grew misanthropic and reclusive. After a lengthy illness, he died August 17, 1786, at age 74, attended by a young Italian count.

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