Prince Max of Brunant

Prince Max of Brunant, born Maximilian Jan Sobieski (1684-1766) was a Polish-Brunanter prince and the male head of the current Royal Family.

Biography
Maximilian Jan Sobieski was born in Gdańsk, Poland to Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland and his wife, Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien. Young Maximilian was not expected to become king of Poland and on his father's death in 1696 he left with his mother for France. In 1704 he left his mother to travel around Europe, visiting Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Spain. He came to Brunant in 1709 and was well received by King Marten I. There, he became smitten by the king's daughter, Catherine Elisabeth (1692-1757). With the king's blessing, the two were married in 1711. Maximilian was made a Prince of Brunant that same year. Catherine and Max would have eight children:


 * Alexandra Augustina Sobieski (1712-1779)
 * Maria Kazimiera Sobieski (1713-1755)
 * A girl (b.-d. 1714)
 * Martinus Sobieski (1715-1722)
 * Jan Sobieski (1715-1727)
 * Antonia Sobieski (1717-1733)
 * Stefan Sobieski (1724-1725)
 * Adrian Sobieski (1733-1807)

Max had wanted sons in order to bolster his chances of being elected King of Poland. His first three children were all girls and on of them died very young. In 1715, his wife bore him twins, but they died before adulthood. He had a daughter in 1717, but after this rumors go that the couple did not sleep together anymore. In 1724 Catherine gave birth to a boy, but he died the following year of pneumonia. After a while of perceived sexual inactivity, Catherine became pregnant in 1732 at the age of 39. Due to her age many feared for the child's life, but in 1733 she gave birth to a healthy boy, Adrian. He was their first son and third child to make it to adulthood.

Max was content with his son but at his age did not believe he would be back in Poland ever again. With the death of his daughter Maria Kazimiera in 1755 and his wife in 1757 he entered into a depression and became very sick. He died in 1766 at the age of 82.

Legacy
Max's family was, for the next 20 years, just an ordinary family with royal connections. Some events in the 1780s would change just that. In 1784, James Carrington invaded Brunant and deposed King Pieter I, Max's brother-in-law. As Pieter had no sons, Carrington decided to appoint Max's son Adrian King of Brunant. Thus Max would become known as the son of a king (Jan III Sobieski), and the father of a king, but he was never king himself.