Frederick William II (1744-1797), King of Prussia 1786-1797, facing left in the uniform of the 18th Royal Prussian Infantry Regiment, blue coat with silver-embroidered pink facings, white shirt and black stock, powdered hair en queue, wearing the orange moiré sash and breast star of the Royal Prussian Order of the Black Eagle

Frederick William II married his first cousin, Elizabeth Christine Ulrika of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1765 and had a daughter, the later Duchess of York and Albany. After his divorce in 1769, he was re-married to Frederika Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt and had five children including King Frederick William III (see lot 259). His reign is characterised by a scandalous moral decay at court due to favoritism and the filthiness of numberless mistresses including the notorious trumpeter's daughter 'Rieke' Enke, styled 'Countess von Lichtenau'. She and two merry bigamous morganatic wives, the newly-styled 'Countess von Ingenheim' (in 1787) and the newly-created 'Countess of Brandenburg' (in 1790) made him the happy father of a further nine recognized children. His private occupations prevented him from maintaining his uncle's high standard of the Prussian Army, which finally led to the defeat of Prussia by Napoleon's troops in 1807.