Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma
Francesco Farnese reigned as the seventh and penultimate Farnese Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1694 until his death. Married to Dorothea Sophia of the Palatinate, his brother Odoardos widow, to avoid the return of her dowry, Francesco curtailed court expenditure, enormous under his father and predecessor, Ranuccio II, while preventing the occupation of his Duchy of Parma, nominally a Papal fief, during the War of the Spanish Succession.
The second son of Ranuccio II Farnese and Maria dEste of Modena, Francesco, born in 1678, ascended to his fathers domain at the age ofonDecember 1694. Ranuccio II left Parma, a small, landlocked northernItalian duchy of little political significance, saturated in debt, largely thanks to his extravagant court. Therefore, rather than see her dowry revert to her brother the Elector Palatine, Francesco married his brother Odoardos cranky widow, Dorothea Sophia of the Palatinate.
Source: Wikipedia