Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg

Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg (5 July 1670, Neuburg an der Donau, Germany - 15 September 1748, Parma, Italy) Duchess of Parma from 1695 to 1727. She was the sixth daughter of the Elector of the Palatinate, Philip William of Neuburg, and Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Three of her sisters were Queen of Spain, Queen of Portugal and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.

Dorothea Sophie was typically Germanic: Blonde, with blue eyes and tall. She was also known for being arrogant, ambitious, authoritarian and without sense of humour. On 17 May 1690, she married Odoardo II Farnese, heir to the throne of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza. The festivities for their wedding were the most splendid that had ever taken place in Parma. In their three years of marriage, they had two children:
* Alessandro Ignazio (December 6, 1691 - August 5, 1693),
* Elisabeth of Parma (October 25, 1692 - July 11, 1766), who married in 1714 King Philip V of Spain. Amongst her descendants is the present King of Spain Juan Carlos I.

Odoardo died on 6 September 1693, only a month after the death of their son. On 8 December 1695, Dorothea Sophie married Odoardo's half-brother, Francesco Farnese, who had become Duke of Parma when his father died in 1694. This marriage was decided by Francesco himself, because he didn't want to give up Dorothea Sophie's dowry should she marry someone else. Nevertheless, this marriage remained childless.

Francesco died in 1727 and, when his only remaining brother Antonio also died childless in 1731, the Duchy of Parma went to Dorothea Sophie's eldest grandchild, the 16-year-old son of Elisabeth of Parma, Charles III of Spain. Dorothea Sophie became regent until 1735, when the Duchy was ceded to Austria after the War of the Polish Succession. She died in Parma in 1748.