Countess Palatine Of Sulzbach Maria Francisca

Notable

Family

German royalty, the Countess Palatine of Sulzbach and member of the House of Wittelsbach by birth, and by marriage the Countess Palatine and Duchess of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. She was the fifth child of Joseph Karl, Count Palatine of Sulzbach and Countess Palatine Elizabeth Auguste Sophie of Neuburg. From her six siblings, only she and two older sisters survive adulthood: Elisabeth Auguste and Maria Anna. On 6 February 1746, Maria Franziska married Friedrich Michael, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. After giving birth to five children, the relationship with her husband began to fail from 1760. According to herself she was seduced by the bad example of the court and began an affair with an actor from Mannheim. When she became pregnant, Maria Franziska was banished from the court. In Strasbourg she gave birth to a son, and was then confined to a semi-detention in a series of monasteries, firstly at the Ursuline in Metz and then to the Augustinians of Bonnevoye in the Duchy of Luxembourg. After the death of her husband in 1767, she was allowed to return to Sulzbach Castle. Maria Franziska died in Sulzbach on 15 November 1794, aged 70. Link to Wikipedia biography