Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg

Johann Kasimir Kolbe, Graf von Wartenberg (6 February 1643, in Wetterau – 4 July 1712, in Frankfurt am Main) was the first ever Minister-President (effectively Prime Minister) of the kingdom of Prussia, and the head of the "Cabinet of Three Counts".

In his youth he was Oberstallmeister and Geheimer Rat in the council of Mary of Orange (1642–1688), sister-in-law of the Great Elector and wife of Pfalzgraf Ludwig Heinrich von Simmern (1640–1674).

On her death he transferred to the service of Frederick III of Brandenburg, where he rose quickly through the ranks - in 1691 he became Schlosshauptmann of Berlin, in 1694 Hauptmann der Dompropstei Havelberg, in 1696 Oberstallmeister and Oberkammerherr.

On 18 January 1701, at Frederick's coronation in Königsberg, it was Johann who was allowed to place the purple cloak on him, and in the same year he became prime minister.

Moreover, he did not hold these offices one after the other, but instead all at once, in a kind of personal union, thus making him able to fill the court with systematic corruption and enrich himself shamelessly.