Frederick William III (German: Friedrich Wilhelm III.) (3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (1797–1806 and again 1813–1840).
The son of King Frederick William II of Prussia and Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, Frederick William was born in Potsdam and became Crown Prince in 1786, when his father ascended the throne.
As a child, Frede...
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Frederick William III (German: Friedrich Wilhelm III.) (3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (1797–1806 and again 1813–1840).
The son of King Frederick William II of Prussia and Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, Frederick William was born in Potsdam and became Crown Prince in 1786, when his father ascended the throne.
As a child, Frederick William's father (under the influence of his mistress, Wilhelmine Enke, Countess of Lichtenau) had Frederick William handed over to tutors, as was quite normal for the period. He spent part of the time living at Paretz, the estate of the old soldier Count Hans von Blumenthal who was the governor of his brother Prince Heinrich. They thus grew up partly with the Count's son, who accompanied them on their Grand Tour in the 1780s. Frederick William was happy at Paretz, and for this reason in 1795 he bought it from his boyhood friend and...
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