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(We could make Joseph and Magdalena twins and bump Maria Elisabeth's age up a little bit if you feel he's is too young. I was going with ages that would have been common in the time period, though I admit I erred on the side of the 16th and 17th centuries, which I'm more familiar with than the 18th. I originally had Joseph as 20, but you posted Magdalena before I did and I felt that Joseph fit better after her. Let me know!)

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Joseph is an energetic and headstrong young man. He is a prominent personality at Court, being more outgoing and less burdened by duty than his brother the King. He wears fine clothing, and dances and rides excellently. He is a very good archer, and also skilled with a sword. He has dark hair and clear gray eyes, and is a bit of heart-throb among the young ladies at Court. His marriage to Maria Elisabeth trampled on many dreams and aspirations.

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Intelligent like his sister Magdalena, Joseph works hard at his studies and favors studies of Latin, mathematics, and astronomy. He is marginally fluent in similar languages to his siblings, but excels in Latin and does well enough in French, especially after Adelheid began to help him practice. He also enjoys theology, and there was some talk of him joining the clergy before his official engagement to Maria Elisabeth.

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Joseph, though friendly and popular, does not allow many people to become very close to him. He is close to his mother, the Dowager Queen, and to his siblings, especially his older brother, to whom he is very loyal despite their brotherly rivalry. Being "the spare" affected Joseph as a young boy, when his father clearly preferred his firstborn son and he tends to not trust easily. A few years ago, it was revealed that a childhood friend of the prince had cultivated the friendship in order to establish himself at Court, and then took advantage of the friendship to attempt the assassination of the King. Though the attempt was foiled by Joseph himself, who killed his friend defending Walter, he has never truly trusted a friend since.

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Maria Elisabeth and Prince Joseph have known each other practically since birth. As a show of good faith in the nobility, the late King announced the betrothal of his son to the daughter of one of the most powerful noblemen in the land when both children were very young. The betrothal was broken once, when it appeared briefly that Crown Prince Walter would succumb to illness and the King scrambled to arrange a royal marriage for his younger son, but was reinstated after Walter recovered. Maria Elisabeth, Joseph, and Adelheid often studied and played together as children, exploring the palace and riding on the grounds, and Maria Elisabeth also spent time embroidering with both princesses. Maria Elisabeth became rather close to Magdalena and Adelheid, and misses her friends now that they are off attending to their marriages. Joseph and Maria Elisabeth's match was undoubtedly a political move and the couple harbored no deep feelings for each other throughout most of their lives. They both flirted and there were whispers that Prince Joseph had been unfaithful to his fiancee, but they are only rumors. In the last months before the wedding, Joseph decided that it was time he turned his whole attention to his bride. Though they had been engaged since they were thirteen and twelve, Joseph set about courting Maria Elisabeth and the couple has developed fledgling romantic feelings for each other. Hopefully, these feelings will be able to grow into marital love.