Ludwig Wilhelm, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt was a Royal Hanoverian and Prussian Lieutenant General and the Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt from 3 November 1866 to 28 September 1890.
Background
Ludwig Wilhelm was born in Burgsteinfurt, Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg on 1 August 1812 and was the eldest son and child of Alexius, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt (1781–1866) and his wife Countess Wilhelmine of Solms-Braunfels (1793–1865).
Career
Ludwig Wilhelm was an elder brother of Prince Wilhelm Ferdinand of Bentheim and Steinfurt (1814–1849), Prince Julius Arnold of Bentheim and Steinfurt (1815–1857), Prince Karl Everwin of Bentheim and Steinfurt (1816–1854), Princess Augusta Juliana of Bentheim and Steinfurt (1817–1880), and Prince Ferdinand Otto of Bentheim and Steinfurt (1819–1889). From 1844, Ludwig Wilhelm was made Rittmeister à la suite of the Royal Hanoverian Regiments Garde du Corps and rose to Major in 1849. In 1855, Ludwig Wilhelm was made Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel in 1859, Major General in 1862, and Lieutenant General in 1879.
In 1866, Ludwig Wilhelm succeeded his father as head of the Princely House of Bentheim and Steinfurt.
Titles and styles 1 August 1812 – 3 November 1866: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt 3 November 1866 – 28 September 1890: His Serene Highness The Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt West.
Membership
As such, he became a hereditary member of the Prussian House of Lords and the First Chamber of the Diet of the Kingdom of Hanover. Following Hanover"s annexation by Prussia, Ludwig Wilhelm served as a member of Westphalian Provincial Council. Beginning in 1875, Ludwig Wilhelm became a member of the Württembergian Chamber of Lords.