The town's star attraction is the eponymous Schloss Rheinsberg , prettily set right on Lake Grienerick and surrounded by a sprawling park. Friedrich Wilhelm I purchased it in 1734 for his 22-year-old son, Crown Prince Friedrich, the future Frederick the Great. The prince, who spent four years here studying and preparing for the throne, later said this period was the happiest of his life. In 1744 he gave the palace to his brother Heinrich, a closet homosexual whom Frederick forced into marriage with Wilhelmine of Hesse-Kassel. You'll learn this and other juicy titbits on a self-guided audio tour (available in English).
