Charles Theodore (Karl Theodor) inherited the Bavarian Electorate in 1777 under considerable duress — he had no legitimate heirs and was widely unpopular in Bavaria, having spent his life governing the Palatinate. His reign saw the abortive "Exchange of Bavaria" scheme of 1778–79, in which Joseph II attempted to swap Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands, a plan defeated by Prussian military pressure and the War of the Bavarian Succession. By 1790, the elector was aging, politically marginal, and deeply disliked by his subjects, which lends a certain irony to the formal portraiture coinage continuing to be struck in his name.
Charles Theodore (Karl Theodor) inherited the Bavarian Electorate in 1777 under considerable duress — he had no legitimate heirs and was widely unpopular in Bavaria, having spent his life governing the Palatinate. His reign saw the abortive "Exchange of Bavaria" scheme of 1778–79, in which Joseph II attempted to swap Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands, a plan defeated by Prussian military pressure and the War of the Bavarian Succession. By 1790, the elector was aging, politically marginal, and deeply disliked by his subjects, which lends a certain irony to the formal portraiture coinage continuing to be struck in his name.