It is best known as being the childhood summer residence of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

[1][2] Possenhofen was used as the family's summer residence, with their winters spent at Herzog-Max-Palais in Munich.

The palace served as a seat of the Dukes in Bavaria, a junior branch of the House of Wittelsbach, until it became derelict after 1920.

Duke Luitpold Emanuel sold Possenhofen, as well as Biederstein Castle in Munich-Schwabing, in order to build his late romantic Schloss Ringberg.

Possenhofen subsequently served various functions—children's home, hospital, even a motorcycle repair shop—until being restored and converted to condominiums in the 1980s.