Washington Journal., 1943-03-05

DIR. Won Gudden near SchlOss Berg. A mani
festo, signed by all the members of Bavaria's
Crown Council, proclaimed Otto as King and
Luitpold as Prince Regent, pending Otto's
illness.
Over the Royal Residence and all the
princely palaces the Wittelsbach standards
were flow at half mast. Already the ~sentries
at their portals wore bands of mourning. On
the parade grounds of the royal guards regi-
ments the troops were marshaled and made
to swear their oath of allegiance to- King Otto.
Erwin and | went to the nearest barracks and
peeked through the iron-grated fence into the
parade ground. We saw a colonel read aloud
from a paper in his hands and heard him give
the words of the oath of fealty. The soldiers
raised their right hands and loudly repeated
the oath. In the churches, so we were told,
the Whitsuntide worship was changed to
masses and prayers for the soul of the dead
King. Many public buildings displayed black
streamers.
When ] went home for supper Father show
cd me some latest foreign newspapers he had
bought at the railway station. They had been
brought by the late afternoon trains from
Switzerland and told much more about the
tragedy and of King Ludwig's reign than did
our Munich newspapers. One of the Swiss
newspapers limited that grief over Richard
Wagner's recent death had driven the King
to suicide. 1t told much of Ludwig's love
for the great composer that had ben unknown
to us in Munich.
Throughout the further holidays from
school-because of Whitsuntide and the pub
lie mourning for the late King-my friend
Erwin and | spent many hours together.
During those days, thanks to P~rimeminister
Won Lutz's condolences to Erwin's mother, we
learned enough of the happenings that led to
King Ludwig's death, for us to piece together
the main scenes Of the last act of his life
tragedy, to wit:
Loss of Richard Wagner
In Mid-February of that same year 1886,
when King Ludwig was looking forward to
another visit from Richard Wagner, word
came from Venice that the master had died
there.
When this news was broken to the King by
his trusted s~ervitor, one Birkel, the King
uttered a cry of despair and turned away to
hide his tears. Then he fell into an apathy
from which none dared rouse him. At length
he demanded that Wagner's corpse be
brought to Hohenschwangau, saying: "This
is where we first met. His body is mine. He
belongs to me-"
Timid explanations, that this could not be
done, since the master had wished to be
buried at Bayreuth, we're brushed aside by
the King, but in the end he had to give in.
He gave orders that the special train bear
ing Wagners coffin on its way to Bayreuth,
should be received with funeral pomp at the
Munich railway station. The court orchestra
was to play the funeral march from Beet
hoven's "Eroica''. In the Kings name Count
Won Lerchenfeld laid a royal wreath on the
masters coffin, but Ludwig could not bring
himself to come either to Munich or to Bay
reuth. He shut himself up in his mountain
castles and would not let his ministers come
near him. Only his former chief Of chancery,
Herr Won Ziegler, who had won Ludwig's
favor as a poet and playwright, besides a few
servants Of the royal household, were suffered
to stay by.
Financial Straits
The monarch's absorbing interest remained
the building and establishment Of his royal
castles in the mountains. For this he spent
ever more money, draining the royal eX-
chequer. His budget, the so-called 'scivil
list, having been exceeded, he plunged the
kingdom into debt, to the tune Of 10 million
marks.
At last a day came when Primeminister
Won Lutz dared let the King know that he
could draw no more money. King Ludwig
raved and threatened punishment to Baron
Lutz and other members of his cabinet.
Recalling that Prince Bismarck was in
debted to him in 1901 for his compliance
with the "Iron Chancellor's" war measures
against France, when the young King, with
out consulting the Bavarian parliament,
called his troops to arms and let them march
with the Prussians, afterward helping Bis
marck to resurrect the German Empire by
signing Bismarck's draft of a letter to King
Wilhelm of Prussia, wherein he offered the
imperial crown to Wilhelm, Ludwig now
begged Bismarck for a loan Of 6 million
marks. He sent his aide-de-camp, Count
DGrckheim to Berlin to negotiate the pro
posed loan.
Bismarck graciously received Durckheim