Charles II August, Duke of Zweibrücken

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Charles II August Christian (b. Düsseldorf, October 29, 1746; d. Mannheim, April 1, 1795) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1775 to 1795. He was the son of Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Maria Franziska of Sulzbach.

Charles wanted to marry Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria, the eight child of of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis Stephen of the Holy Roman Empire. He was well-known in the Austrian court, and Maria Amalia was also in love with him. However, even if he was well-known to the imperial family, Maria Amalia's mother did not agree to the match as he was deemed of insufficient rank at that time to marry an Archduchess. Moreover, the Empress was determined to marry her daughter off to either the King of Naples or the Duke of Parma, thereby cementing Austria's alliance with the House of Bourbon, upon the death of another daughter, Archduchess Maria Josepha. Maria Amalia's older brother, Joseph, was also in favor of the match between his sister and the Duke of Parma, as the latter was the younger brother of his beloved wife, Isabella. So in 1769, Maria Amalia was married off to Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, against her will. This decision not only permanently embittered Charles against the Empress and Austria but also Maria Amalia against her mother. The relationship between mother and daughter would never be the same again. In Dresden in 1774 Charles married Maria Amelia of Saxony (1757-1831), daughter of Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony. As the marriage was childless, upon his death the title of Duke of Zweibrücken was inherited by his brother Maximilian.