William Gustav of Anhalt-Dessau
| William Gustav | |
|---|---|
| Hereditary Prince of Anhalt-Dessau | |
| Born |
20 June 1699 Dessau, Anhalt-Dessau |
| Died | 16 December 1737 (aged 38) Dessau, Anhalt-Dessau |
| morganatic wife | Johanna Sophia Herre |
| House | Ascania |
| Father | Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau |
| Mother | Anna Louise Föhse |
William Gustav of Anhalt-Dessau (20 June 1699, in Dessau – 16 December 1737, in Dessau), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and heir to the principality of Anhalt-Dessau.
He was the eldest son of Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, by his morganatic wife Anna Louise Föhse.
In 1706 the eight-year-old William Gustav was appointed a captain and accompanied his father in his campaign against France in 1712. In 1713 he obtained the post of chief of the Prussian regiment of gene d'armes. In 1719 he participated in the Turk's War in Hungary. Between 1734 and 1735 he served under Prince Eugene of Savoy as a volunteer in the war against France.
William Gustav fell in love with Johanna Sophia Herre (surname Herr or Herrin according to some sources) (b. Dessau, 8 July 1706 - d. Dessau, 5 June 1795), a commoner. They married secretly in Dessau on the night of 14 March 1726, after which she lived in Kleckewitz. They had nine children:
In 1737, during Johanna Sophia's ninth and last pregnancy, William Gustav came down with smallpox and, wanting to see her before his death, he had her and his eldest son brought to Dessau, revealed the secret marriage and children to his father, and entrusted their care to him. Prince Leopold raised the eldest son at his court and gave a secret pension to the widow and her other children in Kleckewitz. Leopold was succeeded by his younger son Leopold Maximiliam, who gave his brother's widow a house in Dessau and obtained for his children from the Emperor the title of "Counts of Anhalt" on 19 September 1749, without any rights of succession.
At the same time, King Frederick II of Prussia raised the two illegitimate sons whom William Gustav sired with one "Henriette Marianne Schardius" to the rank of nobility with the surname "of Anhalt":
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