Wilhelm of Mecklenburg

Duke Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Ludwigsburg, 5 March 1827 - Heidelberg, 28 July 1879), was the second son of Hereditary Grand Duke Paul Friedrich of Mecklenburg and his wife Princess Alexandrine of Prussia, daughter of Frederick William III.

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. On two occasions he was deprived of his command in the Prussian army and he proposed marriage to the celebrated ballerina Marie Taglioni consequently he was generally considered to be the "black sheep" of the family. Under family pressure, on 9 December 1865, he married Alexandrine of Prussia, daughter of Albert of Prussia and Marianne of Orange-Nassau. William settled with his wife at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. The marriage was unhappy and the couple had an only child: Charlotte (1868-1944) who married Prince Heinrich XVIII Reuss of Köstritz.

William took part in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 as a major general in command of a brigade of cavalry corps. He managed with difficulty to secure an unimportant command in the Prussian army during the Franco-Prussian War, but he was wounded on 9 September 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 28 July 1879.