Career
He enlisted in the Prussian army and became commander of the sixth regiment of cuirassiers. William had a reputation for drunkenness and a dissolute character. William took part in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 as a major general in command of a brigade of cavalry corporations
He managed with difficulty to secure an unimportant command in the Prussian army during the Franco-Prussian War, but he was wounded on September 9, 1870 in Laon.
As a result, he was long absent from the front and he showed a great lack of energy at the Battle of Le Mans. In 1873 he became commander of the 22nd Division in Kassel, completed in 1874 but it was only an honorary position.
He died on July 28, 1879.