King Ferdinand VII of Spain.
Ferdinand VII (1730 - 1813) was King of Spain from 1799 to 1813, and the founder of the Spanish Hohenzollern dynasty.
Ferdinand was born on 23 May 1730, the fourth and youngest son of King Frederick William I of Prussia. As the youngest brother of King Frederick the Great, Ferdinand lived much of his life in relative obscurity. This changed abruptly in 1799 when he was placed on the Spanish throne by British and Prussian diplomats in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
At the time of his elevation to the Spanish throne, Ferdinand was 69 years old, and had three surviving children: his daughter Louise, and his sons Louis Ferdinand and Augustus. Possibly due to Ferdinand's elevation, Spain's colonies in the Americas rose in revolt and declared their independence, and by 1805 the last Spanish viceroys were driven from Central and South America.
Ferdinand died on 2 May 1813 in Madrid.
Sobel does not give the family connection between Ferdinand and the later Spanish kings Miguel and Ferdinand VIII, but it is likely that they are sons of Louis Ferdinand. Sobel erroneously refers to Ferdinand VII as Ferdinand II.