Friedrich Wilhelm III, king of Prussia

MONARCH (PRUSSIA)
BORN 3 Aug 1770, Potsdam, Brandenburg - DIED 7 Jun 1840, Berlin
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Mausoleum Charlottenburg

Son of Friedrich Wilhelm II. Among his tutors was Johan Engel. He became a colonel in 1790 and fought against the French (1792-1794). In 1793 he married the beautiful Louise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He succeeded his father in 1797.

During the Napoleontic Wars he was neutral until 1806, when Prussia entered the war and was defeated near Jena. The king and queen fled to Memel, East Prussia. The pregnant queen begged Napoleon during an audience to have mercy on Prussia, but lost it's Polish posessions as well as the territory west of the Elbe.

The king did little, but the queen encouraged several ministers to reform what was left of Prussia. When Louise died in 1810 it was a heavy blow to the king as well as to the country. After the Napoleontic Army was diminished in Russia the king allied with the Russians against France. After the war he broke his promise to give Prussia a constitution. His reign lasted until his death in 1840.

Family
• Father: Friedrich Wilhelm II, König von Preussen
• Son: Wilhelm I, emperor of Germany
• Wife: Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, königin von Preussen (1793-1810)

Related persons
• had as physician Hufeland, Christoph Wilhelm
• was sculpted by Kiss, August
• employed Rauch, Christian Daniel

Events
26/4/1804Friedrich von Schiller travels to Berlin. He was received enthousiastically by the theatre public and he was received by queen Luise at Schloss Charlottenburg and by the royal couple at Schloss Sansssouci. Schiller received an offer to move to Berlin but he decided to stay in Weimar. [Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, königin von Preussen][Schiller, Friedrich von]
26/5/1821Opening of the Königliches Schauspielhaus in Berlin with Goethe's "Iphigenie". The old theatre at the Gendarmentmarkt had burnt down in 1817. Karl Friedrich Schinkel built the new theatre between 1818 and 1821. King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia attended the opening. [Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von][Schinkel, Karl Friedrich]

Images

The funerary monument for king Friedrich Wilhelm III at the mausoleum Charlottenburg, Berlin.
Picture by Androom (18 Aug 1996)

 

Sources
• Damm, Sigrid, Das Leben des Friedrich Schiller, Eine Wanderung, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2004
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909
Frederick William III of Prussia - Wikipedia
http://www.content.landesarchiv-berlin.de/php-bestand/arep167-pdf/arep167.pdf


Friedrich Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, Kurfürst von Brandenburg

Published: 26 Oct 2008
Last update: 25 Apr 2022