William VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

William was the eldest son of Landgrave William VI of Hesse-Kassel and his wife, Hedwig Sophie of Brandenburg. William VII inherited the landgraviate when his father died in 1663. Since he was still a minor, his mother became regent.

William was engaged with his cousin Maria Amalia of Courland, the daughter of Jacob of Courland (her mother was the sister of William's mother). After the engagement, he embarked on his Grand Tour to the Netherlands, England and France. In Paris, he became very ill with a "fever". The French doctors tried to cure the 19-year-old landgrave with laxatives, emetics, enemas and bloodletting, yet the treatment killed him.

He was buried in the Martinskirche, Kassel. His fiancée married his younger brother and successor, Landgrave Charles.

• Hans Philippi: Die Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel 1648–1806, in the series Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Hessen, issue 46, also Kleine Schriften, vol. 8, Marburg, 2007.
• Franz Carl Theodor Piderit: Geschichte der Haupt- und Residenzstadt Kassel p. 239
• Kaspar Nöding: Statistik, Topographie und Geschichte des Landgräflich und Kurfürstlichen ... p. 222 f.