William Louis, Prince of Baden
Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach ( born January 14, 1732 † December 17, 1788 ) was the brother of the first Grand Duke of Baden, Karl Friedrich. In 1753 he became governor of the province of Gelderland Arnhem-based. In 1766 he was appointed by the Dutch States General to Lieutenant General. Since 1769 Wilhelm Ludwig operated also as an industrialist.
Life
Wilhelm Ludwig was the son of Crown Prince Friedrich of Baden -Durlach and Anna Charlotte Amalie of Nassau- Dietz - Orange, the daughter of Prince William Friso of Nassau- Dietz - Orange.
After his father died in 1732 and the mother suffered from a mood disorder, the grandmother, Countess Magdalena Wilhelmine of Württemberg took over the education of Wilhelm Ludwig and his brother Karl Friedrich.
His higher education was Wilhelm Ludwig at the Académie de Lausanne from 1743 to 1745. 1745/46 he traveled to Paris and the Netherlands, where he lived with his uncle Wilhelm Carl Heinrich Friso, who later became hereditary stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.
The uncle came to the conclusion that the undisciplined Wilhelm Ludwig exercised an uneasy influence on his older brother, the Hereditary Prince Karl Friedrich. While Karl Friedrich journey home to Karlsruhe took, there to take over the government, the uncle Wilhelm Ludwig ordered a military career in the Netherlands.
Wilhelm Ludwig went - with the permission of the Margrave Karl Friedrich - a morganatic marriage with Christine Wilhelmine Schortmann one.
The children of this union were collected by Karl Friedrich on 27 January 1777 the nobility and were allowed to call the Barons of Seldeneck and use their coat of arms. The Seldeneck were an already extinct in 1583 Franconian noble family. The son, Wilhelm Ludwig von Seldeneck (* January 14, 1766; † January 10, 1827 ) is regarded as the common ancestor of all Seldeneck.
Wilhelm Ludwig bought in Mühlburg lands and founded in 1769 initially a madder factory, which has been converted into a brewery in 1770 and from 1771 also brandy was produced. This was the nucleus of the free Herrlich of Seldeneck'schen brewery, which existed until 1921.
Marriage and issue
Wilhelm Ludwig married on April 13, 1788 Christine Wilhelmine Franziska Schortmann with whom he had two children.
- Louise, Baroness von Seldeneck (* October 31, 1763, † February 15, 1824 ) ∞ Frederic Camille, Marquis de Montperny
- Wilhelm Ludwig, Baron von Seldeneck (* January 15, 1766; † January 12, 1813 ) ∞ Augusta, Baroness von Bothmer