Birth and family Friedrich Wilhelm was born on 4 January 1785 at the manor house in
Lindenau, near the town of
Braunsberg in
East Prussia, the most northeastern
province of the
Kingdom of Prussia (today
Lipowina in Poland). He was the third and youngest child and only son of
Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck and his wife,
Countess Friederike of Schlieben. He was
baptized with the names
Frederick William Paul Leopold and had his distant relative,
Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark (later King Frederick VI), as his
godfather. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm's father was the head of the ducal house of
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, a junior male branch of the
House of Oldenburg. The family descended from King
Christian III of Denmark's younger son,
John the Younger, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, whose grandson
Duke August Philipp severed his ties with Denmark and emigrated to Germany. There he acquired the
manor of
Haus Beck in
Westphalia, after which the lineage was named Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck. His sons and their descendants went into
Prussian,
Polish and
Russian service. Most recently, both Friedrich Wilhelm's father and grandfather held important positions in the
Royal Prussian Army.
Childhood and education Prince Friedrich Wilhelm grew up with his two older sisters Friederike and Louise at Lindenau manor, where he received his first education at home. In 1798, Wilhelm's father retired from his Prussian military service in
Königsberg and settled in
Leipzig to study for a few years. At the same time, the thirteen year old Prince Friedrich Wilhelm was sent to the
Knight academy in
Brandenburg an der Havel where he received his education from 1798 to 1802, after which he studied at the
University of Leipzig from 1803 under the supervision of the father. in Copenhagen in the 19th century. Although Friedrich Wilhelm's ancestors had been in Prussian service, the father was no longer on good terms with the Prussian king due to some unfortunate dispositions, and therefore wanted to find career opportunities for his son elsewhere. In 1804, his father sent him to the family's original home in
Denmark-Norway. Already in 1803, the boy's godfather,
Crown Prince Frederick, had appointed him
rittmeister à la suite in the
Royal Horse Guards and the following year he moved to Copenhagen where he was housed in the
Royal Horse Guards Barracks by
Frederiksholms Kanal in central
Copenhagen.
Military career Subsequently, he made a career as an officer of the Danish army during the
Napoleonic Wars. After just one year in Copenhagen, Friedrich Wilhelm was, at his own request, transferred to the
Duchy of Holstein, where the Danish army maintained guard duty along the Danish monarchy's southern border. From 1805 to 1807, he served there as second rittmeiser in the
Life Regiment Dragoons, where he took part in guarding the border and several times had the opportunity to demonstrate good military skills, especially in
reconnaissance. However, after the British
bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, Denmark allied with
France and the army was transferred to Zealand, just as Friedrich Wilhelm also returned to service in the capital. == Marriage ==