Frederick William was the son of Augustus William (the second
son of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia) and of Louise Amalie
of Brunswick-Lüneburg, sister of the wife of Frederick the
Great. He was born at Berlin and became heir to the throne of
Prussia on his father?s death in 1758. The boy was of an easy-
going and pleasure-loving disposition, averse from sustained
effort of any kind, and sensual by nature. His marriage with
Elisabeth Christine, daughter of Duke Charles of Brunswick,
contracted in 1765, was dissolved in 1769, and he soon
afterwards married Frederika Louisa, daughter of the land-grave
Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt. Although he had a numerous family
by his wife, he was completely under the influence of his
mistress, Wilhelmine Enke, afterwards created Countess
Lichtenau, a woman of strong intellect and much ambition.
Frederick William was a man of singularly handsome presence, not
without mental qualities of a high order; he was devoted to the
arts - Beethoven and Mozart enjoyed his patronage