Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, had been married to
Countess Palatine Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach since 1742; however, their union was not happy and only produced one son, who died in infancy. Charles Theodore was the father of numerous illegitimate children from his relationships with Françoise Després-Verneuil and
Josefa Seyffert, who hadn't any claims to the electorate. The
Palatinate-Sulzbach branch of the
House of Wittelsbach was threatened with dying out after the death of the Elector if he couldn't father any legitimate descendants. Therefore, Charles Theodore decided after the death of his wife in August 1794 to contract a second marriage with an Archduchess of the
House of Habsburg-Lorraine, since they were regarded as one of the most prestigious ruling families in Europe. Looking for a suitable Habsburg bride as the new Electress of Bavaria,
Emperor Francis II selected his cousin, Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria-Este, who was described as a beautiful, well-grown and educated girl. Also a physical defect, a shorter left leg, was mentioned. Furthermore, her dance skills were praised and the potential ability to bear children was highlighted. The 18-year-old Maria Leopoldine had no idea of this marriage project and did not know her 70-year-old bridegroom personally. While Archduke Ferdinand consented to the marriage between his young daughter and the aged elector, his wife Maria Beatrice had doubts. Nevertheless, the marriage was agreed and the young archduchess had to sacrifice her own happiness to the reasons of state. In early January 1795 Count Maximilian von
Waldburg-Zeil zu Trauchburg arrived in Milan to negotiate the marriage contract for his master the Bavarian elector. In the course of this visit, he gave the bride a portrait of her future husband and sent a detailed picture of the young archduchess. In a letter to Charles Theodore, he described Maria Leopoldine as a girl who was more Italian than German, both in appearance and in character. He praised her well-formed waist and the beautiful proportions of her round face. He also emphasized her piety and her knowledge of
Italian,
French and
German. Charles Theodore was enthusiastic about the descriptions of his future wife and stated that, after his death, she would receive the
Electoral Palace of Munich or
Neuburg Castle as a widow's seat, and her court would be paid out from the state funds. In early February 1795 the engagement was officially announced, and on 15 February, the Carnival Sunday, the wedding ceremony took place in the
Throne Room of the
Innsbruck Hofburg. Only the closest family members were invited to the wedding, and three days later the newlyweds left Innsbruck for Bavaria. When they arrived to Munich, magnificent balls and feasts were organized, and plays were performed. Maria Leopoldine seemed at first to join her fate and fulfill the expectations that her family and her husband made of her. The marriage, however, was doomed from the beginning, since the bride couldn't develop any feelings for her elderly groom. Soon after the wedding, she withdrew from her husband's attempts to approach her, and after a violent dispute she even refused to fulfill her marital duties. The young electress avoided the company of her husband and sought the proximity of young people. Maria Leopoldine even showed openly against the marriage with the aged elector. The electress terrorized her husband and the entire court in Munich, and publicly took lovers from all social status. These included an Italian guardsman, the court musician
Franz Eck, the famous Bavarian statesman Count
Maximilian von Montgelas, the chamberlain Count Karl von Arco and the Augsburg canon and philandering Count Karl von Rechenberg. She also ended the relationship with her family in Austria, as she blamed them for her marriage; instead she chose to make an alliance with the
House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken (the elector's presumptive heirs) in opposition to the alliance her husband had forged with her own Habsburg family. On 12 February 1799 Charles Theodore suffered a stroke and Maria Leopoldine immediately wrote the eventual successor Duke
Maximilian Joseph of Palatinate-Zweibrücken to testimony her loyalty to him:
Widowhood Elector Charles Theodore died on 16 February 1799 in
Munich. His death gave relief to his Bavarian subjects, his wife, and the Palatinate-Zweibrücken family. The last hope of the Sulzbach line would have been a possible pregnancy of Maria Leopoldine; however, she denied this, thus enabling the Zweibrücken line of the House of Wittelsbach to take control over the
Electorate of Bavaria and
Electoral Palatinate. The late elector was, in late February 1799, buried in the
Theatinerkirche. On 12 March, the new ruler Maximilian Joseph, made his entry into the Bavarian capital under the rejoicing of the population. Maria Leopoldine, now Dowager Electress, took residence in
Berg Castle at
Lake Starnberg. She received a generous income and given her own court. After her husband's death she quickly became known for her libertine lifestyle with permissive parties, until she became pregnant and for two years was forced to exile herself in
Laibach to cover the scandal. Once there, Maria Leopoldine lived in a nobleman's palace and gave birth to an illegitimate son. The paternity of the child, as well as his identity and further fate, are unknown. After returning to Bavaria in 1801 she bought the Stepperg Castle near
Neuburg an der Donau. Maria Leopoldine recognized the high economic potential of the beautiful and fertile area and found in the person of the entrepreneur and financial expert Joseph von Utzschneider a capable and competent consultant. By improving the agricultural use of the ground, he was able to increase its earnings immensely and achieve a high profit on the markets. Maria Leopoldine expanded her property by buying the neighboring Rennertshofen
brewery with his respective lands. Thus, the Dowager Electress became very wealthy, but also supported financially poor peasant families of the area. == Countess von Arco and later life (1804–1848) ==