Wilhelm I von Auersperg (9 August 1749 – 16 March 1822), was the 6th Prince of Auersperg and Duke of Gottschee. During his reign, the Principality of Auersperg was mediatised to the Grand Duchy of Baden.
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Early life
Wilhelm was born on 9 August 1749 in Graz in the Duchy of Styria, which was a state in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the son of Karl Josef Anton, 5th Prince of Auersperg (1720–1800) Countess Maria Josepha Trautson von Falkenstein (1724–1792).
His paternal grandparents were Heinrich Joseph Johann of Auersperg, 4th Prince of Auersperg, and, his first wife, Princess Marie Dominika of Liechtenstein (a daughter of Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein and Countess Erdmuthe Maria Theresia of Dietrichstein). After his grandmother's death in 1726, his grandfather married Countess Maria Franziska Trautson of Falkenstein (a daughter of Prince Johann Leopold Trautson von Falkenstein), with whom he had nine more children, including Joseph Franz von Auersperg, Prince-Bishop of Passau. His maternal grandparents were Count Johann Wilhelm Trautson von Falkenstein and Countess Maria Anna Josepha Ungnad (a daughter of Count Franz Anton Ungnad von Weißendorf).
Career
Upon the death of his father on 2 October 1800, he became the reigning Prince of the Principality of Auersperg and the Duke of Gottschee (which Emperor Leopold II had elevated the territory to the Duchy of Gottschee for his father in 1791). Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Imperial State of Auersperg was mediatised to the Grand Duchy of Baden.