Visitors leave potatoes on Frederick the Great’s grave at Sanssouci. This deep dive explores how a flute-playing, poetry-writing prince survived a brutal father, the soldier king, and the execution of his close companion Hans Hermann von Katte to become one of Europe’s most formidable rulers.

We examine the contradiction between his Anti-Machiavel and the invasion of Silesia, his flight from the battle of Mollwitz, the oblique order, the near annihilation at Kunersdorf and the miracle of the House of Brandenburg. We also cover his rule as first servant of the state, pragmatic religious tolerance, love of French culture, potato mandates, and the long journey of his remains.

• The Katte affair and the emotional mask it created
• Why the philosopher prince launched an unprovoked war
• How the oblique order offset Prussia’s smaller numbers
• Enlightened absolutism, civil service exams and abolishing torture
• Potatoes, his final wishes and his reburial in 1991