Frederick III, Prince of Salm-Kyrburg

Frederick III John Otto Francis Christian Philip, prince of Salm-Kyrburg, Hornes and Overijse, Gemen and Count of Solre-le-Château. Frederick was the eldest son of Philip Joseph, Prince of Salm-Kyrburg and Princess Maria Theresa of Hornes. He grew up at the French court. Through his mother, the eldest daughter of Maximilian, Prince of Hornes, he inherited all the possessions of the Hornes family. He held the title from 1779 to 1794.

Dutch Patriots
Frederick played an important role as a military leader of the Dutch Republic during the era of the Patriots as a negotiator with the Austrian emperor Joseph II, to dismantle the Barrier treaties 1709-1715. As commander of the Legion of the Rhine (Legioen van de Rijngraaf van Salm), formed by Count of Salm during the Kettle War in 1784, his troops were responsible for the defense of the republic. The troops included eight companies of Hussars, two companies of Jaegers, and six companies of Foot, including sharpshooters. In 1786, Holland employed him to maintain an army, but six months later dismissed his regiment to save money. In Amsterdam a fund was set up to support his troops so that Von Salm, eager to replace the Stadtholder, could remain.

On May, 12 1787 Frederick led the army to Utrecht, to protect the Patriot occupation of the "democratic Eldorado". On the 28 June, he marched to Woerden to capture princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, the wife of the Prince of Orange. Early September 1787, the Gelderse Hunters corps occupied Makkum on the initiative of Court Lambertus van Beyma. When Frederick William II of Prussia invaded the Dutch Republic, Frederick left Utrecht three days later, without giving battle. His regiment retreated through Amsterdam to Weesp, and Frederick endured heavy criticism.

There are different versions of what happened next. He may have remained hidden for a few months in the house of Henry Hope. Possibly he secretly left the city of Amsterdam within a week and stopped in Jever, but as East-Frisia was Prussian, not very likely. He may have fled to his brother at Grumbach in the Rhineland-Palatinate In the summer of 1788 one of the leading patriots Pieter Paulus refused to admit him on a visit to Paris. In 1791 Quint Ondaatje, his personal assistant, wrote him an apology.

In 1794 Von Salm was guillotined together with Alexandre de Beauharnais, the lover of Amalie Zephyrine van Salm-Kyrburg, for their ties with the "Ancien Regime".

Legacy


Frederick commissioned the construction of the Hôtel de Salm in Paris, where Madame de Stael gave her soirees in 1797. From 1804, the Légion d'Honneur resided in the Hôtel, but it was destroyed by fire in 1871. The villa was rebuilt and is named Palais de la Légion d'Honneur. Henry Hope wanted to copy the Hôtel de Salm in Haarlem, for his Villa Welgelegen.

Marriage and issue
Frederick married in 1781 Princess Johanna Francesca of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. They had four children, of whom only one lived to adulthood:


 * Princess Philippine Friederike Wilhelmine (1783–1786)
 * Hereditary Prince Frederick Henry Otto (1785–1786)
 * Prince Frederick Emmanuel Otto Louis Philip Conrad (1786)
 * Prince Frederick IV Ernest Otto Philip Anton Furnibert (1789–1859), his father's successor