Military Service
He entered the British Army, and in 1811, as aide-de-camp to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, took part in several campaigns of the Peninsular War. He was made Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army on 11 June 1811 and Colonel on 21 October that year. On 8 September 1812 he was made an Aide-de-Camp to the Prince Regent and on 14 December 1813 promoted Major-General. His courage and good nature made him very popular with the British, who nicknamed him "Slender Billy.". He returned to the Netherlands in 1813 when his father became sovereign prince.
In 1815, he took service in the army when Napoleon I of France escaped from Elba. He fought as commander of I Allied Corps at the Battle of Quatre Bras (16 June 1815) and the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), where he was wounded.
Read more about this topic: William II Of The Netherlands
Famous quotes containing the words military and/or service:
“War both needs and generates certain virtues; not the highest, but what may be called the preliminary virtues, as valour, veracity, the spirit of obedience, the habit of discipline. Any of these, and of others like them, when possessed by a nation, and no matter how generated, will give them a military advantage, and make them more likely to stay in the race of nations.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Finally, your lengthy service ended,
Lay your weariness beneath my laurel tree.”
—Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8)