Nachdem sein Vater 1732 verstarb und die Mutter unter einer Gemütskrankheit litt, übernahm die Großmutter, Markgräfin Magdalena Wilhelmine von Württemberg die Erziehung von Wilhelm Ludwig und seinem Bruder Karl Friedrich. ###>After his father died in 1732 and his mother was suffering from a mental illness, his grandmother, Countess Magdalena Wilhelmine of Württemberg, took care of the education of William Louis and his brother Charles Fredrick.