Emperor Charles VII Albert (Brussels August 6, 1697 – January 20, 1745 in Munich), a member of the Wittelsbach family, was Prince-elector of Bavaria from 1726 and Holy Roman Emperor from January 24, 1742 until his death in 1745.

Early life and career
As son in law of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor Charles Albert rejected the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and claimed the German territories of the Habsburg dynasty after the death of Charles VI in 1740.
Starting the War of the Austrian Succession Charles Albert invaded Upper Austria in 1741 and planned to conquer Vienna but his allied French troops were redirected to Bohemia instead. So Charles Albert was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague (9 December 1741) when Habsburg was still not defeated. He was elected 'King of the Romans' on 24 January 1742, and took the title 'Holy Roman Emperor' upon his coronation on 12 February 1742. His brother Klemens August of Bavaria, archbishop and elector (Kurfürst) of Cologne, who mostly sided with the Austria Habsburg-Lorraine side during the Habsburg successions, cast his vote for him and personally crowned him emperor at Frankfurt.
Short after the coronation most of Charles Albert's territories were overrun by the Austrians and Bavaria was occupied by the troops of Maria Theresa. In October 1744 a new alliance with Frederick II of Prussia forced the Austrian army to leave Bavaria and Charles VII reobtained Munich. Very gouty he returned only to die three months later. His brother Klemens August then again leaned toward Austria and also his son and successor Maximilian III Joseph made peace with Austria.
Charles Albert is buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche in Munich.