Friedrich Botho Graf zu Eulenburg (born March 16, 1850, in Königsberg, Prussia; died December 3, 1914, in Berlin) was a member of the prominent noble Eulenburg family, a Prussian landowner, and a notable figure within the Wilhelmine aristocracy. He was the younger brother of Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld—the famous diplomat, close confidant of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and central node of the Liebenberg Circle. Through his lineage, Friedrich Botho belonged to an elite tier of Prussian officialdom and courtly society that heavily influenced late 19th- and early 20th-century German politics.
While Friedrich Botho did not hold the same prominent, high-profile state ministerial offices as his older brother Philipp or his cousin Botho Wendt August zu Eulenburg (the Prussian Minister-President), his life and social circle inextricably bound him to the sweeping sociopolitical and cultural currents of the German Empire. His biography is historically anchored in the aristocratic networks of the Prussian court, military associations, and the deeply insular world of the German high nobility.
The primary historical and cultural linkage between Friedrich Botho von Eulenburg and LGBTQ history stems from his membership in the broader Eulenburg family network and the seismic events of the Eulenburg Affair (1906–1909). Although his brother Philipp was the primary target of public exposure, state prosecution, and sensationalist journalism led by journalist Maximilian Harden regarding homosexual relationships within the Kaiser's inner circle, the entire family name became synonymous with this watershed moment in the history of sexuality. The scandal, which erupted publicly in the mid-1900s, dragged long-standing whispers of same-sex desire, homosocial aristocratic bonding, and "Byzantinism" at the Prussian court into the open courtroom and the international press.
In historical and legal analyses of the trials—including contemporary documentation compiled by early sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld—members and associates of the wider Eulenburg orbit were frequently scrutinized regarding the strict enforcement of Paragraph 175 (the German imperial penal code criminalizing homosexual acts). Whispers, court testimonies, and historical investigations occasionally touched upon military and aristocratic circles to which Friedrich Botho and his peers belonged, reflecting an era where same-sex intimacies among the elite were simultaneously practiced within cloistered aristocratic enclaves and fiercely persecuted by the state and public moralists. Friedrich Botho's life thus mirrors the tragic trajectory of a Prussian elite class whose insular culture, aesthetics, and private behaviors ultimately clashed with the rising tide of modern public media, legal criminalization, and the birth of modern gay identity politics.
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