Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine

Philip William ( _de. Philipp Wilhelm) of Neuburg, Elector Palatine (24 November 1615 – 2 September 1690), was Count Palatine of Neuburg from 1653 to 1690, Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1653 to 1679 and Elector of the Palatinate from 1685 to 1690. Son of Wolfgang Wilhelm, Pfalzgraf von Neuburg and Magdalene of Bavaria.

In 1685, with the death of his Protestant cousin, the Elector Palatine Karl II, Philipp Wilhelm inherited the Palatinate, going as far back as Otto-Henry, Elector Palatine, which thus switched from a Protestant to a Catholic territory. The rival claims to the Palatinate of the Duchess of Orleans, Louis XIV's sister-in-law, was the pretext for the French invasion of the Palatinate in 1688, which began the Nine Years War.

Philipp Wilhelm married twice. His first wife was Anna Katharina Konstanze, daughter of Polish king Sigismund III Vasa. Philipp Wilhelm and Anna Katharina Konstanze had stillborn son (b. and d. 1645).

In 1653 Philipp Wilhelm was married to Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, with who he had 17 children, including the next two Palatine Electors, John William and Charles III Philip.

Three of his daughters became queens:
*Eleonor Madeleine, as third wife of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
*Maria Sophia (1666–1699) as second wife of Peter II of Portugal
*Maria Anna (1667–1740) as second wife of Charles II of Spain

Another daughter Hedwig Elisabethmarried Jakub Ludwik Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland.

A fifth daughter Dorothea Sophie married Odoardo II Farnese, Duke of Parma, and was the mother of Elisabeth of Parma, future queen of Spain.

Ancestors

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