Prince Guillaume was born in Betzdorf Castle. He attended secondary school in Luxembourg and Switzerland, and received his baccalaureate in Grenoble in 1982. He continued his studies at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and later at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he graduated in 1987. Guillaume was presented the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, at Sacred Heart University's Academic Convocation and Induction of the Class of 2011 on 10 September 2007. The official ceremony welcomed the first-year students to SHU with a formal academic procession and messages from the faculty, student representatives, and president Anthony J. Cernera, PhD.
On the night of 10 to 11 September 2000, Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla were involved in a serious car accident near Paris. Guillaume was in a coma for almost a month. The transfer of the throne between his father Grand Duke Jean and his brother Henri was postponed from 28 September to 7 October.[2]