State Chancellor (Prussia)

The Prussian State Chancellor was the forerunner of the Prussian Prime Minister from 1807 to 1848/1850 as the highest minister of the Kingdom of Prussia . The state chancellor was primarily a subordinate executive body and overseer of the state administration . He usually also chaired the Prussian State Council , especially when the king did not see it himself. His office was in the Berlin City Palace .

The introduction of the office is related to the occupation of Prussia by Napoleon as a power reduction of the absolutist throne. In this office, the state reformer Karl August Prince von Hardenberg was able to influence the Prussian reforms significantly . After Hardenberg's death, the office of State Chancellor remained vacant. King Friedrich Wilhelm III. has since headed the Prussian State Ministry himself, with the cabinet minister presenting formal priority. In 1822 the cabinet minister was Carl Friedrich Heinrich von Wylich and Lottum .

From 1822 the Prussian State Council had its own president instead of the Chancellor as chairman. However, he could only advise the king and had no direct executive powers, since he was not a member of the State Ministry by virtue of his office. The office officially existed until 1850, when the new Prussian constitution introduced the office of Prussian Prime Minister. In fact, it had already become meaningless in March 1848.