Although many historic accounts
state that Prince William was liked far better than his older brother
Frederick, he was not named heir to the throne. Instead when
Frederick died in 1751,
Parliament and the King’s ministers chose the late Frederick’s
oldest son, George to become King George III. In 1760, King
George II passed away and young George III was crowned. His
39-year old uncle, Prince William, remained the Duke of Cumberland
Military Experience
Prince
William was trained initially to be Lord High Admiral of the British
Navy, but he preferred the army. He saw his first active
service under his father in the Battle of Dettingen where he was
wounded in the leg, an injury that caused him great trouble all his
life.
In April 1745, he was
appointed Captain-General (practically Commander-in-Chief) of the
British Army. He joined the Dutch-Hanoverian-Austrian forces
in Flanders and
was, with them, defeated after a gallant resistance at
Fontenoy. His military track record contains many victories
and defeats in battles at Culloden, Edinburgh,
Aberdeen.
Back in England
Prince William was made
Ranger of Windsor Forest in July 1746 and made his official residence
in England
at “Cumberland Lodge” in the center of the park. He had the
“Virginia Water” built nearby from an insignificant stream.
The Virginia Water, a large man-made lake, forms an efficient drainage
system for the Park. The Virginia Water project was continued
by Henry, brother of George III. The lake is 130 acres in
area, and its total length is slightly over two miles and one-third of
a mile wide at its widest point. Its circumference is about seven
miles. It was at the time one of the largest artificial lakes
in England.
After a long
illness, Prince William died on October 31, 1765, in Westminster.
He was 44 years old.
