Josef Friedrich Wilhelm (born 12 November 1717 in Bayreuth; died 9 April 1798 in Hechingen), was prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen from 1750 until his death.
Contents
Life
Prince Josef Friedrich Wilhelm, Officer in Imperial Service, was the son of Imperial field Marshal Herman Friedrich of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Josepha von Oettingen zu Spielberg. He succeeded his unmarried cousin, Frederick Louis, in 1750.
On 25 June 1750 in Vienna, Josef married Princess Maria Theresia Folch de Cardona y Silva, the 18-year-old only daughter of Francisco Manuel Folch de Cardona y Silva, 2nd Reichsfürst of Cardona and 6th Marqués del Aguila. Maria Theresia died only three months into the marriage and left behind her family's fortune in its entirety. Marriages in the House of Hohenzollern-Hechingen were often chosen based on dowry and inheritance.
In 1751, Josef married Countess Maria Theresia of Waldburg-Zeil who bore him six children, of which only the youngest daughter grew past childhood.
Josef Friedrich Wilhelm pursued a career in the Habsburg Army, and reached the rank of Feldmarschallleutnant in 1757, General of the cavalry in 1758 and Generalfeldmarschall in 1787.
Josef was an enthusiastic hunter and traveler. In 1764, during a stay in Bad Wildbad, he became acquainted with a Prussian Stabskapitän who had been released from the Prussian army after the end of the Seven Years' War. This man was Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730–1794), who would spend the next 12 years as Hofmarschall in Josef's service before his role assisting George Washington in the Revolutionary War as General Inspector and Organizer of the United States Army.