Friedrich Heinrich was the oldest son of Prince Albert of Prussia (1837–1906) and his wife, Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg (1854–1898).

He began as a major in the 1st Guard Dragoon Regiment "Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland," and then was called to the command of the German General Staff in 1902.

At the end of 1906, at the wishes of Kaiser Wilhelm II and as the heir of his deceased father, Friedrich Heinrich was voted the Herrenmeister of the Order of Saint John.

Journalist Maximilian Harden published an article on 27 April 1907 that this change in leadership was because the prince "suffers from an inherited version of inverted sex drive.

At the beginning of 1910, he gave up his presidency of the Academy of Charitable Sciences at Erfurt to his brother Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia.