Bohemian aristocrat from the House of Lobkowicz, known particularly for his interest in music and as a patron of Ludwig van Beethoven.
He was a son of Ferdinand Philipp Joseph, 6th Prince Lobkowicz (1724–1784) and Maria Gabriella di Savoia-Carignano (1748–1828). In 1786 Emperor Joseph II made him Duke of Roudnice (Herzog von Raudnitz in German, vévoda roudnický in Czech).
In 1792 he married Maria Karolina von Schwarzenberg; they had twelve children.
In 1799, Lobkowitz commissioned a set of six string quartets from Haydn. The composer was both busy and in ill health, and he managed to complete only two of them; these were published as the composer’s Opus 77 and were the last quartets he was to complete.
In 1808 Beethoven was offered the post of Kapellmeister at Cassel, where Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, had his court. Prince Lobkowitz, together with Archduke Rudolph and Prince Kinsky, successfully persuaded Beethoven to stay in Vienna by offering a yearly pension of 4,000 florins.
Beethoven dedicated several works to the Prince: his third, fifth and sixth symphonies; his String Quartets Op. 18 and String Quartet Op. 74; the Triple Concerto and the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte. Beethoven composed a Birthday Cantata for Prince Lobkowitz (WoO 106).
Franz Joseph died on 16 December 1816 in T?ebo? in South Bohemia.
Link to Wikipedia biography