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Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein
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Count Karl Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein (* 11th of February 1714; † 3rd of January 1800) was a Prussian Prime Minister.
Count Finck von Finckenstein, son of the General Field Marshal and Governor of the Crown Prince Frederick II of Prussia Count Albrecht Konrad Finck von Finckenstein, studied in Geneva and was engaged after trips in France and Holland 1735 in the Prussian foreign office.
Fredrick The Great, who knew him well from his own childhood and had large confidence in him, sent him first as his envoy to Stockholm where he remained until 1740.
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Count Karl Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein (* 11th of February 1714; † 3rd of January 1800) was a Prussian Prime Minister.
Count Finck von Finckenstein, son of the General Field Marshal and Governor of the Crown Prince Frederick II of Prussia Count Albrecht Konrad Finck von Finckenstein, studied in Geneva and was engaged after trips in France and Holland 1735 in the Prussian foreign office.
Fredrick The Great, who knew him well from his own childhood and had large confidence in him, sent him first as his envoy to Stockholm where he remained until 1740. Then as his envoy to the Danish Court, 1742 to England, 1744 again to Stockholm when his sister Louisa Ulrika of Prussia married Adolf Frederick the King of Sweden; Finckenstein received 1747 the title of a State Minister and became envoy to the Russian Court.
Back in Berlin 1749 Finckenstein was appointed to Cabinet Minister and became henceforth the most trusted advisor to the King, who corresponded with him continually over all matters and asked him for his advice. Nominally during the Seven Years' War, the famous secret instruction of Frederick II of the 10th of January 1757 where Frederick II entrusted Finckenstein for the case of his death or capture with the business of running the country. is directed to Finckenstein.
Or on January 6, 1762, he wrote to Finckenstein, "We ought now to think of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments of my territory we can save from the avidity of my enemies", which means, that he was resolved to seek a soldier's death on the first opportunity.
After the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763 Finckenstein led the Prussian foreign matters alone and had also a prevailing influence at the King; he signed 1799 the renewal of the liberal Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce from 1785, after negotiations with John Quincy Adams, the US Minister to Prussia, who became later the 6th US President.
Until Fredericks's death in 1780, he enjoyed the position of a trusted friend and was also highly honoured by Frederick's successor Frederick William II of Prussia. Finckenstein died, 85 years old, after he has been a State Minister for 53 years, on the 3rd of January 1800.
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