Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Cassel (1720-1785), standing in front of two pillars, facing left in blue velvet coat with red collar and cuffs, gilt breastplate, lace cravat and black stock, wearing the blue sash and breast star of the Order of the Garter, powdered hair en queue, holding a black baton in his right hand; landscape and sky and cloud background

Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, was the eldest son of Landgrave William VII and his wife Dorothea Wilhelmina of Saxe-Zeitz. He married first, in 1740, Princess Mary of Hanover, fourth daughter of King George II, and secondly, in 1773, Philippine of Brandenburg-Schwedt. He became a knight of the Garter in 1741.
Frederick was notorious for selling his people. He 'lent' civilians as soldiers to his brother-in-law King George III to use them as cannon fodder, particularly in the war against the American rebels. The ruthlessness of Frederick's press-gangs was legendary and became an epitomy for the tyrannical absolutism in the smaller German principalities during the age of Enlightenment. Frederick was succeeded by his son William IX, a greedy libertine who successfully continued his father's business.