Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria

Maximilian I Joseph
King of Bavaria
Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1822
King of Bavaria
Reign	1 January 1806 – 13 October 1825
Successor	Ludwig I
Elector of Bavaria
Reign	16 February 1799 – 1 January 1806
Predecessor	Charles I
Born	27 May 1756 Schwetzingen, Baden, Holy Roman Empire
Died	13 October 1825 (aged 69) Munich, Bavaria
Burial	Theatinerkirche, Munich
Spouse	Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt Caroline of Baden
Issue	Ludwig I Augusta, Duchess of Leuchtenberg Caroline, Empress of Austria Prince Karl Theodor Prince Karl Friedrich Elisabeth Ludovika, Queen of Prussia Amalia, Queen of Saxony Archduchess Sophie of Austria Maria Anna, Queen of Saxony Ludovika, Duchess in Bavaria Princess Maximiliana
House	Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
Father	Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
Mother	Maria Francisca of Sulzbach

Maximilian I (also known as Maximilian Joseph) (27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, Prince-Elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1805, King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I) from 1806 to 1825. He was a member of the House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken, a branch of the House of Wittelsbach.

Maximilian, the son of the Count Palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Maria Francisca of Sulzbach, was born on the 27 May 1756 at Schwetzingen, between Heidelberg and Mannheim.

After the death of his father in 1767, he was left at first without parental supervision, since his mother had been banished from her husband's court after giving birth to a son fathered by an actor. Maximilian was carefully educated under the supervision of his uncle, Duke Christian IV of Zweibrücken, who settled him in the Hôtel des Deux-Ponts. He became Count of Rappoltstein in 1776 and took service in 1777 as a colonel in the French army. He rose rapidly to the rank of major-general. From 1782 to 1789, he was stationed at Strasbourg. During his time at the University of Strasbourg, Klemens von Metternich, the future Austrian chancellor, was for some time accommodated by Prince Maximilian. By the outbreak of the French Revolution, Maximilian exchanged the French for the Austrian service and took part in the opening campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars.