Heirs for Karl II vd Pfalz

JonasResende said:
I also read (into it) that Karl I's bigamy played a part in it. Why would this be when countless kings in the period had mistresses and bastards alongside their lawful family.
Having a mistress and illegitimate offsprings has always been badly seen. Even for Kings: the Duke of Saint-Simon is very critical on Louis XIV and his bastard children in his memoirs for example. Bigamy is an even bigger crime because you're not supposed to have two wives in Christian Europe.

So if we take into account that Karl II disapproved his father's way of life, I don't see why he wouldn't act the opposite way.
Rich Rostrom said:
It was an arranged marriage, and she was reportedly a cripple.
That doesn't necessarilly mean Karl II didn't receive a rigorous calvinist education. Not saying this isn't true: just pointing out it doesn't necessarilly contradict what I read. In fact, who's to say we're not both right?
 
Meh,St Simon.He would.

But pretty, witty, Nellie did Old Rowley good in the public eye. Only the St Simons begrudged a prince a kitten or two.Provided always that he treated his wife well and kindly.
 
St Simon's problem was how far Louis XIV elevated his bastards. "The bastards of kings are princes," he commented with regards to du Maine and Toulouse after they were placed in the succession.

That said, Liselotte's own opinion of royal bastards was of "mouse droppings in/amongst the pepper". So, with them growing up in the same household, her brother might be of a similar mindset.
 
So, I realize this sort of goes around the question, but could Karl I marry elsewhere (so he doesn't get a crazy wife) or at least if he still marries Charlotte, that Karl II is a different person. Maybe remove von Degenfeld from the picture by marrying her to Rupert and sending her off to London as Duchess of Cumberland instead.
 
She married Prince Carl in 1672, and was given a large dowry (all the princesses were given large doweries upon their marriages, amounting to one fifth of the countires expences for a year). The marriage hovewer was very unhappy, and Carl had married her because of his father and against his wishes. According to sources he found her lacking court skils and insignificant, and in 1677 he had plans of divorcing her, which didn't happen.

Can I just wonder out loud that if he had somehow managed to divorce Vilhelmina in 1677, would it have made any significant difference to the future of the Palatinate? And who would be a good candidate for him to marry? Since I'm guessing he would be required to marry post-haste not having an heir and all.
 
Well for one change, any protestant children of his would be ahead of Sophia of Hanover for the British succession...
 
So who might he marry, and bear in mind, this is '77, so the idea of the Act of Settlement (Hell, even the Glorious Revolution) is still rather far in the future. But I was wondering if like in Emperor Constantine's TL, he might not marry an English princess (Mary marries to the Palatinate instead of to Holland; and William of Orange marries IDK who (before Mary the candidates were Liselotte and Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark apparently)). Although, considering how short of supply they were there, who else would make the list?
 
If we want to do this, might it not be easier to have Karl II's younger brother Friedrich survive? That way you get a legitimate heir and can scare him up some kids without shifting around anything else.
 
Maybe, IDK the circumstances of Friedrich's death. But one has to wonder, Karl II not having legitimate children didn't do anything to make Prince Rupert marry and have kids, so would Friedrich still marry in his brother's life time or no?

EDIT: An interesting match - and sadly just that, I think - would be for Karl II/Friedrich to marry a Neuburg cousin. Then again, I've also toyed with the question of what if the Pfalz-Simmern and Pfalz-Neuburg lines had simply swapped consorts (Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel marrying Philipp Wilhelm and Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt marrying Karl I). Granted, would Charlotte have willingly converted though?
 
Maybe, IDK the circumstances of Friedrich's death. But one has to wonder, Karl II not having legitimate children didn't do anything to make Prince Rupert marry and have kids, so would Friedrich still marry in his brother's life time or no?

EDIT: An interesting match - and sadly just that, I think - would be for Karl II/Friedrich to marry a Neuburg cousin. Then again, I've also toyed with the question of what if the Pfalz-Simmern and Pfalz-Neuburg lines had simply swapped consorts (Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel marrying Philipp Wilhelm and Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt marrying Karl I). Granted, would Charlotte have willingly converted though?

Hesse-Darmstadt was famously the most conservatively Lutheran of the major German states; Hesse-Kassel was one of the main Calvinist states. Darmstadt tended to be allied to the Habsburgs and the Saxons, Kassel with the Palatinate and the Dutch. It's hard to see that switch happening, especially in terms of a Hesse-Kassel princess marrying a Catholic.

A Neuburg/Simmern match also seems tough, but I suppose the Simmern Wittelsbachs have been going Catholic left and right at this point, so not totally crazy.
 
Hesse-Darmstadt was famously the most conservatively Lutheran of the major German states; Hesse-Kassel was one of the main Calvinist states. Darmstadt tended to be allied to the Habsburgs and the Saxons, Kassel with the Palatinate and the Dutch. It's hard to see that switch happening, especially in terms of a Hesse-Kassel princess marrying a Catholic.

A Neuburg/Simmern match also seems tough, but I suppose the Simmern Wittelsbachs have been going Catholic left and right at this point, so not totally crazy.

Well, the house of Brandenburg talked of marrying their eldest daughter - Luise Charlotte (OTL duchess of Courland) - to Philipp Wilhelm as a way of attempting to sort the claims to the defunct house of Cleves. And considering Brandenburg's links to the Dutch and their ties to Hesse-Kassel, it mightn't be unthinkable. As to the pro-Habsburg part, Karl I was mentioned as a possible husband for Archduchess Leopoldina of Further Austria, so maybe...

But I agree, thin end of the wedge for switching the consorts.

As to a replacement goldfish for Karl II, what of the widowed Christine of Baden-Durlach or the widowed Maria of Nassau-Oranje?
 
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