King in Prussia — the princely title of the Prussian rulers

In 1701 the Habsburg Leopold I was in urgent need of the military help of Brandenburg-Prussia in the War of the Spanish Succession. Thus he was prepared to recognise a royal crown for the Elector. In the corresponding agreement between Vienna and Berlin, at Frederick's insistence, the formula that the Emperor crown the Elector or create the Prussian crown was deliberately omitted. The crown treaty of 17 November 1700 was signed by the Emperor only after the Elector had entered into an alliance with him. The Emperor promised that he would work for the recognition of the new royal title also in the Empire and with other powers.

The Elector was anxious that his crown should express his unlimited sovereignty. The Prussian estates were not consulted and were only informed in December 1700 that there would be a coronation feast. For the coronation act on 17 January 1701 Frederick made use of various European traditions. He put the crown on himself, after which he had himself anointed by the Calvinist bishop. It is estimated that the coronation festivities cost the state about twice as much as the Hohenzollerns earned annually. With one exception, Frederick's successors dispensed with expensive and pompous coronation ceremonies.

The second king in Prussia, Frederick William I, united the Prussian administrative tops in the General Directorate, and he further restricted the privileges of the estates. He surrounded himself with a personal circle of advisors, the Tobacco College.

Frederick II (from 1740), on the other hand, destroyed the uniformity of state governance by establishing new authorities alongside the Directorate-General and assigning individual tasks to commissioners. Moreover, he no longer presided over the Directorate-General in person, but communicated with the ministers in writing. He ruled "from the cabinet," his private chambers, through cabinet secretaries, who thus gained great influence. They could overturn all the ministers' decisions.

The new King Frederick William II therefore issued an instruction on 28 September 1786 prescribing weekly plenary sessions. However, the basic problem remained that thematic and regional responsibilities existed side by side on an equal footing. Under Frederick William III. (from 1797) a certain improvement occurred in that the heads of departments and their portfolios became de facto more independent. However, this was not yet formally a collegial ministerial government.

In the period following the defeat by France in 1807, the Stein-Hardenberg reforms took place. An Edict of Organization of 1808 created a ministerial government. Ministers were given direct access to the king; the king's orders required a ministerial countersignature. In the years 1810-1822 Prussia under Hardenberg had a chancellor as senior head of government; otherwise the government was collegial.

Stein's plan for the Council of State was unsuccessful. The Council of State would have been responsible for legislation and, among other things, would have controlled the administration (in this respect comparable to a parliament). The king would have presided, but his self-government would have been further restricted. In fact, the Council of State met for its first session in 1817, but only as an advisory body. Its members were appointed by the king or were members by birth, like the king's sons, or by office, like the chancellor. In practice, however, the Council of State had the greatest influence because it was knowledgeable and acted independently and responsibly.

Despite repeated promises, the king did not issue a constitution and did not establish a Prussian parliament, only provincial estates. Thus the Prussian monarchy remained a late absolutist or semi-absolutist state. Despite hopes to the contrary in 1840, Frederick William IV did not appoint a senior head of government or fulfill his predecessor's constitutional promise. It remained with the unreal idea that in the 19th century a king could continue to lead a personal regiment as in the times of Frederick the Great.