The Grand Prince finally succumbed to syphilis on 30 October 1713. Cosimo deposited a succession bill in the Senate, Tuscany's nominal legislature, on 26 November. The bill promulgated that if Gian Gastone predeceased the Electress Palatine, she should ascend to "all" the states of the Grand Duchy. It was greeted with a standing ovation by the senators. Charles VI was furious. He retorted that the Grand Duchy was an Imperial fief, and that he alone had the prerogative to choose who would succeed. Elisabeth Farnese, heiress to the Duchy of Parma and the second wife of Philip V of Spain, as a great-granddaughter of Margherita de' Medici, exercised a claim to Tuscany.