for his services Louis XIV appointed him bishop of Strassburg in succession to his brother in 1682, in 1686 obtained for him from Pope Innocent XI the cardinal's hat, and in 1688 succeeded in obtaining his election as coadjutor-archbishop of Cologne and successor to Maximilian. At the instance of the emperor, however, the pope interposed his veto on 26 August 1688; the canons followed the papal lead. Louis XIV attacked the Empire, citing this action as well as his sister-in-law's claim to the inheritance of the Palatinate as his pretexts. As the progress of the Allies against Louis XIV in the Nine Years War deprived him of all prospect of success, Wilhelm Egon retired to France. He retired to his abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés near Paris, where he died on 10 April 1704. Personal life While in Brandenburg in 1670, Wilhelm met the twenty-two-year-old Katharine Charlotte von Wallenrodt. She was the daughter of a Saxon general, and married to Count Anton von Schleiden und Lumain. They began a love affair, and many contemporaries considered Wilhelm the father of her son born in 1674. Upon the death of her husband in 1680, Wilhelm took over as guardian for her three sons. In 1685 she married Wilhelm's nephew, Emmanuel Franz Egon. She travelled with Wilhelm to his exile in France in 1689, and remained with him until his death. References Bibliography 1629 births 1704 deaths 17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Holy Roman Empire 17th-century German cardinals Bishops of Metz Bishops of Strasbourg William Egon French abbots Canons (priests) Burials at Saint-Germain-des-Prés (abbey) William Egon of Fürstenberg Cathedral deans of Cologne 18th-century German cardinals