Prince Albrecht (son) of Prussia

Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Albrecht of Prussia was born on 8 May 1837 in Berlin (Germany). He was the son of Prince Albrecht (father) of Prussia and his wife Princess Marianne , daughter of King William I of the Netherlands. His father was a brother of King Frederick William IV of Prussia and of William I, German Emperor.

Albrecht entered the Prussian army in 1847, serving in the First Schleswig War and participating in the battles of Skalitz, Schweinschädel and Königgrätz in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. In the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 he commanded a guard cavalry brigade at Gravelotte and Sedan. After the fall of the Second Empire, he was subordinated to Edwin von Manteuffel in the fighting around Bapaume and St. Quentin. In 1874 he became commander of the X Corps stationed in Hannover. In 1883 he succeeded his uncle Karl as Herrenmeister of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg).
In 1885, Albert was chosen as Regent for the Duchy of Brunswick, as German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had removed Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover, from office. Prince Albrecht died at Schloss Kamenz on 13 September 1906.

Beside his life in European high nobility and his involvement in military operations, Prince Albrecht (son) of Prussia composed music, mainly military marches. Best known today is his "Parademarsch" from 1861, because it is part of the Prussian Army March Collection and listed under No. III/62.

Virtually none of the handwritten compositions of Prince Albrecht (son) of Prussia has survived because both the Schloss Kamenz, where the personal archive of the Prince was archived as well as the Prussian State Archive in Potsdam, where the Prussian Army March Collection was archived, were bombed in 1945 and all documents were destroyed.

In my possession is a handwritten score of the "Siegeshymnus". The work was first performed on 1 January 1867 at the festivities of the 60-year regency anniversary of Charles II, Duke of Brunswick. But the title of the work ("victory hymn") most likely refers to the victory of the Prussian Empire over the German Confederation (under the leadership of the Austrian Empire) in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866.