Overview
Hedwig Elisabeth of Neuburg (Polish: Jadwiga Elżbieta Amalia Sobieska; 18 July 1673 – 10 August 1722) was a Polish princess by marriage to James Louis Sobieski. She was the daughter of Philip William, Duke of Neuburg and Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.
She was the grandmother of Charles Edward Stuart, the "Young Pretender" also known as ”Bonnie Prince Charlie".
Life
Born at the Stadtschloss in Düsseldorf, she was the fifteenth of seventeen children. Her sisters included Eleonor Magdalene, Holy Roman Empress, Maria Sofia, Queen of Portugal, Maria Anna, Queen of Spain and Dorothea Sophie, Duchess of Parma and mother of queen Elisabeth Farnese. She was raised with her sisters Maria Sophia, Maria Anna and Dorothea Sophie. The sisters where schooled by private tutors in German, Latin, French, Italian, music and dance. Her elder sister Eleonor Magdalene acted as the benefactor of her sisters at the Imperial court.
Marriage
In 1689, she was suggested to marry Prince James Louis Henry Sobieski, son of King John III Sobieski of Poland.
The marriage was arranged in order to secure an alliance between John III Sobieski and the Emperor within the Holy League, as Hedwig Elisabeth was the sister of empress Eleonor Magdalene, and secure Habsburg support in the future election of Prince James as the next Polish king. From the part of her family, the marriage was arranged with the presumption that Prince James would have a good change to be elected king of Poland after the death of his father.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
