Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild was the son of Baron Carl Mayer von Rothschild of Naples and Adelheid Hertz.

He strongly supported many Orthodox Jewish institutions and studied in Yeshivas.

The couple first resided in the Rothschild house on the Zeil (Zeilpalast), but later moved to a palace in Grüneburg, and also lived in a villa in Königstein im Taunus.

As he and his brother left no male heirs, the Frankfurt house was discontinued at his death.

[2] Von Rothschild, who was religious his entire life, was eulogized by Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim at the Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak-Kaminetz in Kaunas as הצדיק השר הטפסר (the righteous, the nobleman, the aristocracy).