William "Billy" Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam, KCVO, CBE, DSO (25 July 1872 – 15 February 1943), styled Viscount Milton from 1877 to 1902, was a British Army officer, nobleman, politician, and aristocrat.

[1] He was born in Pointe de Meuron, Ontario, Canada, to William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton, and Laura Beauclerk, granddaughter of the 8th Duke of St Albans.

On his succession to the Earldom, he became one of the richest men in Britain, inheriting an estate of significant land, industrial and mineral-right holdings worth £3.3 billion in 2007 terms.

Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, he volunteered for service with the Imperial Yeomanry where he was commissioned lieutenant on 3 February 1900,[6][7] serving with the 40th (Oxfordshire) Company in the 10th Battalion.

In May 1902, Lord Fitzwilliam was employed on the staff of the Duke of Connaught, who was in charge of military events during the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.