Topic: Karl Theodor

Charles Theodore, Prince-Elector, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria (German: Karl Theodor; December 11, 1724 – February 16, 1799) reigned as Prince-Elector and Count Palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death. He was a member of the House of Palatinate-Sulzbach, a branch of the House of Wittelsbach.

Charles Theodore was of the Wittelsbach house Palatinate-Sulzbach. His parents were Johann Christian, Count Palatine of Sulzbach and Marie-Anne-Henriette-Leopoldine de La Tour d'Auvergne, margravine of Bergen op Zoom, a grandniece of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne. Charles Theodore was born in Drogenbos near Brussels and educated in Mannheim.

Charles Theodore was margrave of Bergen op Zoom from 1728 onwards. He then succeeded his father as Count Palatine of Sulzbach in 1733 and inherited the Electoral Palatinate and the duchies of Jülich and Berg in 1742, with the death of Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine. To strengthen the union of all lines of the Wittelsbach dynasty Charles III Philip had organized a wedding on January 17, 1742 when his granddaughter Elizabeth Augusta was married to Charles Theodore and her sister Maria Anna to the Bavarian prince Clement.