William of Nassau, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg, Duke of Nassau

Regent

Born: 14.06.1792 in Kirchheimbolanden

died: 20.08.1839 in Bad Kissingen

Wilhelm was born as the first-born son of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm zu Nassau-Weilburg and his wife Luise Isabella von Sayn-Hachenburg in the Weilburg residence of Kirchheimbolanden.

His childhood and youth were dominated by the Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic rule. The princely family had to flee to Weilburg in 1792 and then on to Bayreuth in 1796 before the political situation allowed them to return to Weilburg in 1801. Nevertheless, Wilhelm received a thorough education as a regent, initially from his tutor Friedrich Heinrich Freiherr von Dungern as well as from Weilburg grammar school teachers and in 1808-10 as a student in Heidelberg. In 1813 he married Princess Charlotte Luise of Saxe-Hildburghausen (Charlotte Luise zu Nassau).

In 1816, at the age of 23, Wilhelm became head of a state that was still in the midst of being established. In the early years, he did much to help implement the reforms promoted by Karl Friedrich Emil von Ibell in the administrative, ecclesiastical, educational and social fields. At the same time, he was equally determined to preserve monarchical rights. His autocratic style of leadership was particularly noticeable in the Landtag, which convened for the first time in 1818. Open conflict arose over the claiming of the domains as princely private property, culminating in the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies and the reorganization of the Herrenbank in 1831.

After the death of his first wife in 1825, Wilhelm married Princess Pauline of Württemberg(Pauline Friederike Marie Duchess of Nassau) for the second time in 1829. The first marriage produced two daughters and two sons, including Hereditary Prince Adolph zu Nassau, born in 1817, while two daughters and one son survived from the second marriage.

Wilhelm used Biebrich Palace as his residence, which he had redesigned along with the palace park. The Platte hunting lodge, completed in 1824, was rebuilt on his initiative. He did not live to see the completion of Wiesbaden City Palace, which he had planned and commissioned.

He died at the age of 47 as a result of a brain tumor and after several strokes during a cure in Bad Kissingen. Wilhelmstraße in Wiesbaden commemorates the duke.