William Gustav of Anhalt-Dessau

William Gustav of Anhalt-Dessau (20 June 1699 – 16 December 1737) was a German prince of the House of Ascania and heir to the principality of Anhalt-Dessau. He was born in Dessau, the eldest son of Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, by his morganatic wife Anna Louise Föhse. Life 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. Marriage and issue 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: William ["Count of Anhalt" from 19 September 1749] (b. Hornburg, 15 March 1727 - killed in action at Torgau, 3 November 1760), a Prussian lieutenant-colonel. Leopold Louis ["Count of Anhalt" from 19 September 1749] (b. Kleckewitz, 28 February 1729 - d. Liegnitz, 28 April 1795), a Prussian general and bearer of the Order of the Black Eagle; married on 1 November 1763 to Karoline Elisabeth Antoinette von Printzen (b. Havelberg, 18 August 1734 - d. Liegnitz, 8 April 1799); they had one daughter: Countess Wilhelmine Sophie Karoline of Anhalt (b. Halle, 15 January 1765 - d. Liegnitz, 9 March 1804), married on 6 June 1797 to Julius von Bonge (d. 1820). Gustav ["Count of Anhalt" from 19 September 1749] (b. Kleckewitz, 26 May 1730 - killed in action at Breslau, 22 November 1757), a grenadier captain. Johanna Sophie ["Countess of Anhalt" from 19 September 1749] (b. Kleckewitz, 9 July 1731 - d. Dessau, 15 July 1786), Abbess of Mosigkau. Frederick ["Count of Anhalt" from 19 September 1749] (b. Kleckewitz, 21 May 1732 - d. St. Petersburg, 2 June 1794), General Adjutant of the Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia. Wilhelmine ["Countess of Anhalt" from 19 September 1749] (b. Kleckewitz, 12 February 1734 - d. Bosfeld, 4 June 1781), married on 8 April 1772 to August Wolfrath von Campen, illegitimate son of Albert Wolfgang, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe. Albert ["Count of Anhalt" from 19 September 1749] (b. Kleckewitz, 24 June 1735 - d.