Royal suite: Ludwig II of Bavaria Royal suite|Luxury hotel Home Accommodation Historical Suites Ludwig II of Bavaria Suite Ludwig II of Bavaria Suite The authenticity of Ludwig of Bavaria, a singular personality and patron of Richard Wagner, whose heritage is tied to the history of art and architecture, permeates this suite. 90 m² Arrangement Suite for 2 persons including a separate living-room tastefully decorated with antique furniture and equipped with the latest technologies and amenities Dressing room Balcony with a view of the Lake Beds "King size" or "Twin beds" Connecting rooms Panoramic view of the Lake, Mont-Blanc and the old town Features of the suite King size or twin beds Down duvet and pillows Thick terry bathrobes and slippers Bathroom and separate shower Hair dryer and bathroom scales Double wash basins Music library (200 audio CDs) Video library (50 films) Multi-line telephone with voice messaging Fax and LAN network on request ALSO King Ludwig II of Bavaria – his life story King Ludwig II of Bavaria – his life story Articles King Ludwig II of Bavaria – his life story What is myth and what is true? An overview of the most important facts about the fairy tale king.

Moon King, lonely, homosexual and a little mad. Everybody believes they know something about King Ludwig II, but what is myth and what is true? What can we really be sure of? Here a factual overview of Ludwig’s life: On the left stands Ludwig with his father Maximilian II, his mother and brother Otto. Ludwig was born in 1845 at Nymphenburg Palace. As was customary at court in those times, he spent most of his time with his nurse. He maintained a good relationship with her throughout his entire life. His relationship to his parents was less harmonious. Ludwig II was already considered to be a dreamer at an early age and was consequently the exact opposite of his father, King Maximilian II, who was regarded as cool and rational. As a man, who had a passion for engineering and science, Maximilian II recognised and appreciated the upcoming age of industrialisation. Ludwig’s mother, a Prussian lady from the House of Hohenzollern, was a little more affectionate. But contrary to offspring from the Prussian dynasty, Ludwig was not educated with military drill, but liberally, Christian and almost a little antimilitaristic.

Ludwig II with his fiancée, Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria A king had to marry and have children. That was simply one of the royal duties. After all, the dynasty had to be continued. But what if you didn’t really like women? At the age of 20, Ludwig II became engaged to Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria – a daughter from a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach and sister of Elisabeth, the famous Sissi, also a Munich girl, who had already caused a sensation when becoming Empress of Austria. The wedding to Sophie was announced, consent had been obtained from the Pope, everything was planned and ready, but at the last minute, Ludwig cancelled the wedding and the engagement. What the public did not know at the time: Sophie was already having an affair with another man. Ludwig remained unmarried. His sexual preference troubled him throughout his entire life. He could never openly admit to being homosexual. Homosexuality was classed as an illness. Passionate letters and friendships to men are documented, real amorous escapades, however, are not. At the age of 17, Ludwig II heard his first Wagner opera and was enthralled.

The fanatic awe he felt towards the composer lasted a lifetime. Ludwig II became Richard Wagner’s most important supporter and patron. He had people track down the deeply indebted composer and bring him to Munich. Ludwig paid Wagner’s debts and financed his next works. Wagner thanked him gushingly: “I send you tears of heavenly affection...” A few of Wagner’s works premiered in Munich, among them Tristan and Isolde. Ludwig loved to listen to Wagner’s operas, sometimes alone without an audience. “I can’t immerse myself into the illusion of theatre, when the people around me keep staring at me...” said Ludwig. Richard Wagner’s influence on King Ludwig II became so great that he even had an impact on political decisions. However, the ministers did not allow this and ordered Wagner to leave Munich again. Ludwig nonetheless kept paying Wagner is annual salary. Ludwig and the American author Edgar Allan Poe Ludwig saw a veritable kindred spirit in one of the great American authors, in Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was already dead when Ludwig was born, but he was intimately familiar with his works. Poe is regarded as the pioneer of symbolism, but he was by no means a dreamy sentimentalist.

On the contrary, he was an analytical author of crime and horror stories with a pinch of the fantastic. In February 1882, King Ludwig II confessed to the American journalist Lew Vanderpoole: “For me, Poe is one of the greatest human beings ever to have walked this earth.” Incidentally, Poe was not widely known in the German-speaking parts of the world in the 19th century. That only changed at the beginning of the 20th century. Otto von Bismarck At the age of 18, after the death of his father Maximilian II, Ludwig was crowned King of Bavaria in 1864. At this time, Germany as a state did not yet exist. Bavaria was an independent kingdom and part of the loose German Confederation. He did not live in a democracy, nor was he an absolutist king. Ludwig reigned “by the grace of God”, but with a parliament and a constitution and had to do a lot of paperwork. Ludwig struggled with his bureaucratic duties, but he nonetheless fulfilled them diligently until his dying days. Until the end, he read weekly reports and countersigned them.

But reigning and discussing with the ministers, the parliament and the parties was not one of Ludwig’s strengths. He withdrew more and more from Munich, a city he hated. As little as Ludwig II liked politics, one of the most important events of German history took place during his reign: the foundation of the German Reich. Ludwig II did not like Bismarck’s and mighty Prussia’s idea at all – this meant, after all, that he would lose his sovereignty. But in the end, he had to give in. Prussia was too dominant and Bavaria had to bow down. However, Ludwig demanded millions for his signature, a sum he invested in building castles. Mountains and solitude His mother passed on her love of the mountains to Ludwig. She already took him to the Alps when he was still a child. The older Ludwig II grew, the more he loved the solitude the mountains offered. “On Sunday, I will once again escape into the holy tranquillity of nature, the pure air of the mountains ... up there in the blissful solitude, high in the mountains, I will find the rest I so desperately need.” he wrote in 1865 at the age of just 19.

Incidentally, romanticising the Alps only became fashionable in the 19th century. A monarch of the 18th century would have found the idea ludicrous. He would have seen the mountains as a menacing force of nature. Ludwig and engineering King Ludwig II lived in the age of industrialisation, i.e. a time of great change. Glowing steel and steaming machines characterised this era, but also a new and invisible force: electricity. Engineers and inventors from Munich and Bavaria also played an important role in this development. The first fridge was, for example, developed by Karl Linde in Munich. For Ludwig II, all this progress meant that he could realise his grand visions and ideas. Most impressively so at the Venus Grotto at Linderhof Palace. The magical blue light in the Grotto was created by an electric lighting system which was powered by dynamo machines, which are regarded as Bavaria’s first electric power station. The scene of the tragedy in Lake Starnberg On 8 June 1886, at the instigation of the Bavarian government, Ludwig II was declared “disturbed in the mind” and “incurable” by several doctors and consequently incapacitated.

The king’s extravagance, his rising mountain of debt due to building one palace after another and his increasing voluntary isolation were the government’s trigger for this move. King Ludwig was taken into custody at Neuschwanstein Castle on 12 June and from there taken to Berg Castle on Lake Starnberg. On the following day, he took a walk in the castle gardens and along the lake together with Doctor Bernhard von Gudden. When both men had not returned by 8.00pm, people were sent out to search for them with lamps and torches. At around 10.00pm the king and von Gudden were found, 25 paces from the shore, drifting in the shallow water. The official story is that von Gudden wanted to prevent Ludwig from committing suicide and was killed in the attempt. No one knows what really happened back then. It remains part of the myth. D.L. Gay Influence: King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886) Gay & Bisexual Men of Importance Role models of greatness.

Here you will discover the back stories of kings, titans of industry, stellar athletes, giants of the entertainment field, scientists, politicians, artists and heroes – all of them gay or bisexual men. If their lives can serve as role models to young men who have been bullied or taught to think less of themselves for their sexual orientation, all the better. The sexual orientation of those featured here did not stand in the way of their achievements. Saturday, March 29, 2014 King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886) Paul von Thurn und Taxis, a Bavarian prince, kept a diary, but like everything else concerning him in the Regensburg archives of the powerful and wealthy Thurn und Taxis family, it was destroyed. Aside from the fact that he pursued a career as a professional stage actor, a likely reason is that Paul was an intimate, devoted boyfriend to the Wittelsbach crown prince Ludwig (shown at right), who ascended to the throne at age eighteen. Paul and Ludwig engaged in behavior that would be unflattering to the Thurn and Taxis dynasty.

From a letter sent by Paul to Ludwig on May 5, 1866, when King Ludwig was 20 years old: “Dear and Beloved Ludwig! I am just finishing my diary with the thought of the beautiful hours which we spent together that evening a week ago which made me the happiest man on earth… Oh, Ludwig, Ludwig, I am devoted to you! I couldn’t stand the people around me; I sat still and, in my thoughts I was still with you...How my heart beat when, as I passed the Residenz, I saw a light in your window.” Paul and Ludwig also shared a passion for composer Richard Wagner and the theater. Paul was gifted with a beautiful voice and sang for the king many times. When Paul and Ludwig visited Wagner’s home, the lads shared a “cosy little room,” as described in one of Paul’s letters. Wagner rehearsed Paul in a portion of his opera Lohengrin, which was performed for the 20th birthday of the king on August 25, 1865, at the Alpsee in Hohenschwangau, where Ludwig’s family had a favorite castle.

It was magnificently staged with Paul dressed as the hero Lohengrin, wearing silver armor, drawn over the lake by an artificial swan as the scenery was illuminated by electric lights. The King sat enraptured as his intimate friend sang his favorite music. A year later, on New Year’s day, 1867, all Bavaria was delighted to hear the announcement of their dashing King Ludwig’s engagement to Princess Sophie, a native Duchess and sister to “Sisi,” the beloved Empress of Austria. The royal wedding was arranged to take place on Ludwig’s 22nd birthday, August 25, but an official announcement early in the summer postponed the nuptials until October 12. However, Ludwig broke off the engagement a week before the marriage was to take place. In a long letter to Princess Sophie, he stated that the engagement and wedding had been forced upon him; he loved the Princess “like a sister” and hoped to remain her friend. Ludwig's Coronation Portrait There was a reason for the postponement and ultimate cancellation. During the summer Ludwig had met Richard Hornig, a groom employed at one of his stables.

A blond, blue-eyed Prussian, five years older than the king, he was to become one of the most important people in Ludwig’s life. Hornig was a superb horseman, and their mutual love of horses allowed a friendship to develop. In a short time Hornig was seeing the king constantly and intimately. Hornig soon occupied the office of Crown Equerry and Master of the Horse. He controlled all horse transport, coaches and carriages, stabling, purchase, breeding and training of the Royal horses, which numbered around 500. The king and Hornig often visited the king’s remote castles, chalets and mountain huts, mostly in a four-horse carriage, but sometimes in a romantic, illuminated sleigh in the moonlight. When the two dined at the king’s castles, they were waited on by footmen dressed in 18th-century livery. Hornig was soon acting as go-between for the king and his ministers, much as Queen Victoria’s John Brown, which caused much tongue-wagging and criticism. Ludwig and Hornig also set out on a journey through Germany to France, with the King traveling incognito as Count von Berg.

It was during this time that the king issued a postponement of his wedding. The appearance of Richard Hornig in his life led to the king’s full break with Sophie. Ludwig’s homosexual relationship with Hornig made him realize that a normal love for any woman was not possible. In fact Ludwig II went on to have a succession of handsome male companions, two of whom were Hungarian theater star Josef Kainz and courtier Alfons Weber. They were both good-looking young men, and Ludwig treated them as other royal males treated their mistresses. Ludwig showed Kainz special favor, giving him expensive gifts, inviting him for stays in the king’s castles and asking him along for a vacation in Switzerland. They even had their photo taken together at the end of the trip, although it is scandalous that in this portrait Kainz is seated, and the king is standing (photo at left). King Ludwig was an obsessive, devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner. The king wiped out Wagner’s enormous debts, built him a theater in Bayreuth custom designed for his operas as well as a private villa across town. Wagner lived on money supplied by the king.

As the king aged, he became an eccentric recluse caught up in the building of fantasy castles decorated with murals depicting scenes from the legends upon which Wagner’s operas were based, all the while ignoring matters of state, which were left to his staff of ministers. It was during Ludwig’s reign that Prussia launched a successful campaign to unify all the disparate German kingdoms into one unified Germany Empire, with Prussian King Wilhelm I as kaiser. When the king’s ministers caught wind that Ludwig was planning to dismiss his entire cabinet and replace them, they acted first. They plotted to depose him constitutionally, on grounds of mental illness, subsequently issuing a statement that he was unable to rule. However, this was accomplished without any medical examination, so the king’s diagnosis of insanity remains suspect. Among the list of bizarre behaviors described in this “medical report” was the fact that his young groomsmen were often ordered to strip naked and dance for the king’s entertainment. Poor taste, perhaps, but not insanity. Three of the four psychiatrists who signed the damning medical report had never met the king, and none had ever examined him. Even so, the ministers made plans to place Ludwig’s younger brother on the throne.

On June 12, 1886, a commission arrived at Neuschwanstein castle and served the king with an order of deposition, escorting him to Schloss Berg on the shores of Lake Starnberg. The next day the king’s body was discovered floating in the lake, alongside the corpse of Dr. Gudden, one of the psychiatrists who had declared the king insane. Gudden’s body showed evidence of a struggle and attempted strangulation, suggesting that the king tried to kill him (Ludwig was 6'4" tall and heavy-set, so there is validity to this theory). The exact cause of the king’s death remains open to speculation, since an autopsy found no water present in his lungs. Ludwig is best known as an eccentric whose legacy is intertwined with the history of art and architecture. He commissioned the construction of several extravagant fantasy castles and palaces, the most famous being Neuschwanstein. Since his legacy of these grandiose castles lives on in the form of massive tourist revenue, King Ludwig is revered by many in Bavaria today.

Here is a photo of the extravagant ceramic stove adorned with figures of Tristan and Isolde in the bedroom of Ludwig II at Neuschwanstein palace in southern Bavaria. The three most-visited of Ludwig's castles: top to bottom: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee Franz, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1933) is the present head of the Wittelsbach dynasty. He is a gay man who lives in a suite of apartments in Schloss Nymphenburg (Munich), the summer residence of the Wittelsbach kings of Bavaria where King Ludwig II was born. Here Franz is photographed in 1993 with his nieces Duchess Marie Caroline of Württemberg (b. 1969) on the left and Duchess Elizabeth in Bavaria (b. 1973). The Wittelsbachs were opposed to the Nazi regime in Germany, and in 1939 Franz's father Albrecht took his family to Hungary. They lived in Budapest for four years before moving to Somlovar Castle in late 1943.

In March 1944, Nazi Germany occupied Hungary, and on October 6, 1944, the entire family including Franz, then aged 11, was arrested. They were sent to a series of Nazi concentration camps including Dachau. At the end of April 1945 they were liberated by the United States Army. Posted by Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung | Neuschwanstein Castle | King Ludwig II | Biographical data Biographical data King Ludwig II of Bavaria King Ludwig II, photograph Biographical data 1842 12 October: Crown Prince Maximilian, oldest son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, marries Princess Marie of Prussia. 1845 25 August: Ludwig is born in Nymphenburg near Munich, the first son of the Crown Prince and Princess. 26 August: The child is baptised Ludwig at the wish of his grandfather King Ludwig I, whose godfather was Louis XVI of France. 1848 20 March: King Ludwig I abdicates. The Crown Prince becomes Maximilian II, King of Bavaria.

1849 – 1863 The royal family spends the summers in Hohenschwangau Castle and the royal villa in Berchtesgaden. 1861 2 February: Crown Prince Ludwig sees the opera "Lohengrin" by Richard Wagner in Munich. 22 December: Crown Prince Ludwig sees a performance of "Tannhäuser" for the first time. 1864 10 March: King Maximilian II dies unexpectedly after a short illness. The Crown Prince becomes Ludwig II, King of Bavaria. 4 May: First meeting of Ludwig II with Richard Wagner in the Munich Residenz. 1865 10 June: Premiere of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" in the Munich Hoftheater. 10 December: Richard Wagner is forced to leave Munich. 1866 The conflict between Austria and Prussia leads to the "German War", as a result of which Bavaria is forced to form an alliance with Prussia. 22 - 24 May: King Ludwig II visits Richard Wagner at the Villa Tribschen near Lucerne.

1867 22 January: King Ludwig II becomes engaged to Sophie, Duchess in Bavaria, a sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. 1 - 3 June: Journey to the Wartburg. 20 - 29 July: Visit to the World Exhibition in Paris with a stay in Compiègne and Pierrefonds. 7 October: The engagement is broken off. 1868 21 June: Premiere of Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" in the Munich Nationaltheater. First plans for Neuschwanstein Castle and the first sketches for a palace modelled on Versailles and later built on the Herreninsel in the Chiemsee. 1869 Completion of the royal apartment in the Munich Residenz. 5 September: The foundation stone of Neuschwanstein is laid. 22 September: "Das Rheingold" by Richard Wagner is first performed in the Munich Hoftheater. 1870 Beginning of the war between Germany and France. The king supports the alliance with Prussia. 26 June: "Die Walküre" by Richard Wagner is performed for the first time in the Munich Hoftheater.

The first plans for Linderhof Palace are drawn up. 1871 Founding of the Second German Empire. King Ludwig II's conservatory is completed in the Munich Residenz. 1872 6 May: First "private performance" in the Munich Hoftheater. 22 May: The foundation stone of Wagner's Festival Theatre in Bayreuth is laid. 1873 Ludwig II acquires the Herreninsel in the Chiemsee. 1874 21 - 28 August: Ludwig II makes a second journey to Paris, staying in Versailles and Fontainebleau. 1875 24 - 27 August: Ludwig II makes a short trip to Reims, where the French kings were crowned. 1876 In August, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Bayreuth Festival Theatre, Ludwig II sees Richard Wagner's music drama "Der Ring des Nibelungen", but avoids the main performances. 1878 21 May: The foundation stone of the new Herrenchiemsee Palace, Ludwig II's long dreamed of "Versailles project", is laid. Completion of Linderhof Palace; the bedroom is rebuilt from 1884.

1883 13 February: Death of Richard Wagner in Venice. 1884 May: Ludwig II stays for the first time in the completed rooms in Neuschwanstein. First concrete plans for a new castle on the Falkenstein near Pfronten in the Allgäu. 1885 Plans for a Byzantine palace in the Graswangtal and a Chinese summer palace in the Tyrol. King Ludwig II lying in state in the Court Chapel of the Munich Residenz (photograph) 9 June: Ludwig II is certified insane and declared unfit to govern. 10 June: Prince Luitpold of Bavaria takes over the regency. 12 June: Ludwig II is arrested in Neuschwanstein Castle and interned in Berg Palace. 13 June: The king dies in Lake Starnberg, together with the psychiatrist Dr von Gudden. His body lies in state in Berg Palace and the Hofkapelle (Court Chapel) of the Munich Residenz. 19 June: King Ludwig II of Bavaria is laid to rest in the crypt of St Michael's Church in Munich. King Ludwig II.

of Bavaria | Neuschwanstein Castle in Hohenschwangau, Schwangau near Füssen Location King Ludwig II. of Bavaria King Ludwig II of Bavaria is one of Germany’s most interesting ancestors. Conspiracy theories have surrounded his mysterious death and his label as the ‘Mad King’ has drawn artists, historians, and tourists to his history for years. Very few people understand the full history of Ludwig II, however. Here’s a complete guide to the history of this intriguing historical figure. Early Years The future King Ludwig II was born in Nymphenburg Palace, in modern-day Munich. He was born to the eldest son of Crown Prince Maximilian II of Bavaria and Princess Marie of Prussia. During his early years, he was drilled and groomed for power. King Maximilian II demanded he be taught about the corridors of power from an early age. Tutors trained him in both mind and body to rule. He was confined to a strict study and exercise regime. Ludwig was never close to his parents. He was much closer to his grandfather Ludwig I, who came from a family of eccentrics himself. This is where many assume much of his quirks originated from.

Becoming a King and a Patron of the Arts Crown Prince Ludwig ascended the throne when he was just 18. His father Maximilian died after a short three-day illness. Even though his youth and lack of experience made him an unfit ruler, he was immensely popular. His youth brought freshness to the Bavarian state, and women melted over his handsome and dashing demeanor. One of his first acts was to recall Richard Wagner to court. Wagner was known as a revolutionary and serial debtor. But he had admired him since seeing Wagner’s Lohengrin opera. He apparently appealed to the King’s eccentricities. It was his friendship with the King which led many of his operas to debut in the famous Bavarian State Opera House, which was the Munich Royal Court Theatre at the time. Relations at Home and Abroad During Ludwig’s early reign, his main priority was to produce a male heir to secure the dynastic line. At the same time, Prussia was growing in strength and he was bound to confront it. In 1867, both of them reached critical mass. In 1867 he became engaged to Duchess Sophie Charlotte. She was the youngest sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

The marriage never happened, though. After it was initially publicized in January, multiple postponements saw the whole thing cancelled in October. Ludwig would never marry in his life. Ludwig became involved in two wars during his life. In 1866, Bavaria joined Austria against Prussian expansionism. The final negotiations led to Ludwig accepting a mutual defense treaty with Prussia. Three years later, the Franco-Prussian War began. Prussia’s resounding victory led to the unification of Germany and Ludwig’s Uncle, Wilhelm I of Prussia, becoming Emperor. King Ludwig lost his crown as Bavaria became a state in the new Germany. He attempted to protest by not attending the ceremony in the Palace of Versailles, but Prince Otto went in his stead. Power Struggle Ludwig came into direct conflict with his cabinet, who wanted him deposed after drowning Bavaria in 14 million Marks worth of debt. This led to an attempt to arrest Ludwig and place his uncle Luitpold as Prince Regent. Although an initial peasant support may have saved the king, his fears of large public gatherings and constant dithering caused his support to wane. He was arrested on 12 June 1886.

Death Ludwig and Dr Bernhard von Gudden went for a walk on the shores of Lake Starnberg on 13 June 1886. They commanded no attendants should follow them. Both men were found in shallow water in Lake Starnberg later that night. Coroners ruled Ludwig, aged 40, had committed suicide by drowning himself, yet the autopsy showed no water had entered his lungs. Furthermore, he was a very strong swimmer and he was found in shallow water. Dr Gudden’s body showed signs of strangulation. The suspicious manner of the deaths of both men has led to a number of conspiracy theories over the years. Hotels & Apartments Ludwig II Ludwig II Cause of death: Accident - Drowning Remains: Buried, Michaelskirche, Munich, Germany Gender: Male Nationality: Germany Executive summary: Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria, 1864-86 Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, son of his predecessor Maximilian II and his wife Maria, daughter of Prince William of Prussia, was born at Nymphenburg Palace in Munich on 25 August 1845.

Together with his brother Otto, three years younger than himself, Ludwig received, in accordance with the wishes of his learned father, a simple and serious education modelled on that of the German Gymnasien, of which the classical languages are the chief feature. Of modern languages the crown prince learned only French, of which he remained fond all his life. The practical value of the prince's training was small. It was not until he was eighteen years old that he received his first pocket money, and at that age he had no ideas about money and its value. Military instruction, physical exercises and sport, in spite of the crown prince's strong physique, received little attention. Thus Ludwig did not come enough into contact with young men of his own age, and consequently soon developed a taste for solitude, which was found at an early age to be combined with the romantic tendencies and musical and theatrical tastes traditional in his family. Ludwig succeeded to the throne on 10 March 1864, at the age of eighteen. The early years of his reign were marked by a series of serious political defeats for Bavaria.

In the Schleswig-Holstein question, though he was opposed to Prussia and a friend of Duke Frederick VIII of Augustenburg, he did not command the material forces necessary to effectively resist the powerful policy of Bismarck . Again, in the war of 1866, Ludwig and his minister von der Pfordten took the side of Austria, and at the conclusion of peace (22 August) Bavaria, in addition to the surrender of certain small portions of her territory, had to agree to the foundation of the North German Confederation under the leadership of Prussia. The king's Bavarian patriotism, one of the few steadfast ideas underlying his policy, was deeply wounded by these occurrences, but he was face to face with the inevitable, and on 10 August he wrote a letter of reconciliation to King William of Prussia. The defeat of Bavaria in 1866 showed clearly the necessity for a reform of the army. Under he new Liberal ministry of Hohenlohe (29-Dec-1866 to 13-Feb-1870) and under Prauckh as minister of war, a series of reforms were carried through which prepared for the victories of 1870.

As regards his ecclesiastical policy, though Ludwig remained personally true to the Catholic Church, he strove for a greater independence of the Vatican. He maintained friendly relations with theologian Ignatz von Dollinger, the leader of the more liberal Catholics who opposed the definition of papal infallibility, but without extending his protection to the anti-Roman movement of the Old Catholics. In spite of this the Old Bavarian opposition was so aroused by the Liberalism of the Hohenlohe ministry that at the beginning of 1870 Ludwig had to form a more conservative cabinet under Count Bray-Steinburg. On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War he at once took the side of Prussia, and gave orders for mobilization. In 1871 it was he who offered the imperial crown to the king of Prussia; but this was not done on his own initiative. Bismarck not only determined the king of Bavaria to take the decisive step which put an end to a serious diplomatic crisis, but actually drafted the letter to King William which Ludwig copied and despatched without changing a word.

Ludwig placed very few difficulties in the way of the new German Empire under the leadership of Prussia, though his Bavarian particularism remained unchanged. Though up until the beginning of the year 1880 he did not cease to give some attention to state affairs, the king's interests lay in quite other spheres. His personal idiosyncrasies had, in fact, developed in a most unhappy direction. His enthusiasm for all that is beautiful soon led him into dangerous bypaths. It found its most innocent expression in the earliest years of his reign when he formed an intimate friendship with Richard Wagner , who from May 1864 to December 1865 he had constantly in his company. Ludwig was entirely possessed by the soaring ideas of the master, and was energetic in their realization. He not only established Wagner's material position at the moment by paying 18,000 gulden of debts for him and granting him a yearly income of 4000 gulden (afterwards increased to 8000), but he also proceeded to realize the ambitious artistic plans of the master.

A series of brilliant model performances of the Wagnerian music-dramas was instituted in Munich under the personal patronage of the king, and when the further plan of erecting a great festival theatre in Munich for the performance of Wagner's "music of the future" broke down in the face of the passive resistance of the local circles interested, the royal enthusiast conceived the idea of building at Bayreuth, according to Wagner's new principles, a theatre worthy of the music-dramas. For a time Ludwig was entirely under Wagner's influence, the fantastic tendencies of whose art cast a spell over him, and there is extant a series of emotional letters from the king to Wagner. Wagner, on the whole, used his influence in artistic and not in political affairs, though it was on Wagner's advice that the king appointed Hohenlohe prime minister in 1866. In spite of this the opposition to Wagner became permanent. Public opinion in Bavaria for the most part turned against him. He was attacked for his foreign origin, his extravagance, his intrigues, his artistic utopias, and last but by no means least, for his unwholesome influence over the king.

Ludwig in the end was compelled to give him up. But the relations between king and artist were by no means at an end. In face of the war which was imminent in 1866, and in the midst of preparation for war, the king hastened in May to Triebschen, near Lucerne, in order to see Wagner again. (Hohenlohe commented on the fact that the king did not even take the trouble to review the troops proceeding the war.) In 1868 they were seen together in public for the last time at the festival performances in Munich. In 1876 Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen was performed for the first time at Bayreuth in the presence of the king. Later, in 1881, the king formed a similar friendship with Josef Kainz, the Hungarian actor, but it soon came to an end. In January 1867 the young king became betrothed to Duchess Sophie of Bavaria (afterwards Duchesse d'Alenfon), daughter of Duke Max and sister of the empress of Austria; but the betrothal was dissolved in October of the same year.

Though even in his later years he remained interested in lofty and intellectual pursuits, as may be gathered, apart from his enthusiasm for art and nature, from his wide reading in history, serious poetry and philosophy, yet in his private life there became increasingly marked the signs of moral and mental weakness which gradually gained the mastery over his once pure and noble nature. A prominent feature was his blind craving for solitude. He cut himself off from society, and avoided all intercourse with his family, even with his devotedly affectionate mother. With his ministers he came to communicate in writing only. At the end he was surrounded only by inferior favorites and servants. His life was now spent almost entirely in his castles far from the capital, which irked him more and more, or on short and hasty journeys, in which he always travelled incognito. Even the theatre he could now only enjoy alone. He arranged private performances in his castles or in Munich at fabulous cost, and appointed an official poet to his household. Later his avoidance of society developed into a dread of it, accompanied by a fear of assassination and delusions that he was being followed.

Side by side with this pathological development his inborn self-consciousness increased apace, turning more and more to megalomania, and impelling the weak-willed monarch to those extraordinary displays of magnificence which can still be admired today in the castles built or altered by him, such as Neuschwanstein, later the inspiration for that fanciful castle at Disneyland , as well as Berg on the Starnberger, Linderhof, Herrenchiemsee, Hohensch-wangau, etc., which are among the most splendid buildings in Germany. It is characteristic of the extravagance of the king's ideas that he adopted as his model the style of Louis XIV , specifically the imperial palace at Versailles, and fell into the habit of imitating the Roi Soleil. He no longer stayed for any length of time in one castle. Often he scoured the country in wild nocturnal rides, his madness nipping at his heels. His mania for buying things and making presents was comparatively harmless, but more serious matters were the wild extravagance which in 1880 involved him in financial ruin, his fits of destructive rage, and his private homosexual yearning which wracked and perplexed him.

Nonetheless, at the time when the king's mental weakness was increasing, his character still retained lovable traits: his simple sense of beauty, his kindliness, and his highly developed understanding of art and artistic crafts. Ludwig's love of beauty also brought material profit to Bavaria. But the financial and political dangers which arose from the king's way of life were so great that interference became necessary. On 8 June 1886, medical opinion declared him to be affected with chronic and incurable madness and he was pronounced incapable of governing. On l0 June his uncle, Prince Luitpold, assumed the regency, and after violent resistance the late king was placed under the charge of a psychiatrist. On 13 June 1886 he met his death by drowning in the Starnberger See, together with his doctor von Gudden, who had unwisely gone for a walk alone with his patient, whose physical strength was enormous. The details of Ludwig's death will never be fully known, as the only possible eyewitness died with him. An examination of the brain revealed a condition of incurable insanity, and the faculty submitted a report giving the terrible details of his malady.

Ludwig's brother Otto, who succeeded him as king of Bavaria, was also incurably insane. Father: King Maximilian II Ludwig II of Bavaria - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on Ludwig II of Bavaria Wikis Ludwig II of Bavaria: Wikis Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Ludwig II" redirects here. For other uses, see Ludwig II (disambiguation) . Ludwig II 10 March 1864 – 13 June 1886 Predecessor St. Michael's Church , Munich Ludwig II (Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm; sometimes rendered as Louis II in English) (25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was king of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes referred to as the Swan King in English and der Märchenkönig (the Fairy tale King) in German .

Ludwig is sometimes also referred to as "Mad King Ludwig", though the accuracy of that label has been disputed. Because Ludwig was deposed on grounds of mental illness without any medical examination, and died a day later under mysterious circumstances, questions about the medical "diagnosis" remain controversial. [1] Ludwig is best known as an eccentric whose legacy is intertwined with the history of art and architecture, as he commissioned the construction of several extravagant fantasy castles (the most famous being Neuschwanstein ) and was a devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner . King Ludwig is generally well liked and and still revered by many in Bavaria today as his legacy of grandiose castle building lives on in form of massive tourist revenue. Contents Childhood and adolescent years Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (left) with his parents and younger brother Prince Otto . Born in Nymphenburg Palace (today located in suburban Munich ), he was the eldest son of Maximilian II of Bavaria and his wife Princess Marie of Prussia .

His parents intended to name him Otto, but his grandfather, Ludwig I of Bavaria , insisted his grandson was to be named after him , since they shared a common birthday and 24 August is the day of Saint Louis, patron saint of Bavaria. A younger brother, born three years later, was named Otto . Like many young heirs in an age when Kings governed most of Europe, Ludwig was continually reminded during childhood of his royal status. King Maximilian wanted to instruct both of his sons in the burdens of royal duty from an early age. [2] Ludwig was extremely indulged and yet severely controlled by his tutors, and subjected to a strict regimen of study and exercise. There are some who point to these stresses of growing up in a royal family as the causes for much of his odd behavior as an adult. Ludwig was not close with either of his parents. King Maximilian's advisers had suggested that on his daily walks he might like to at times be accompanied by his future successor. The King replied, "But what am I to say to him? After all, my son takes no interest in what other people tell him." [3] Ludwig referred to his mother as "my predecessor's consort".

[3] He was far closer to his grandfather, the deposed and notorious King Ludwig I , who came from a family of eccentrics. Ludwig's childhood years did have happy moments. He lived for much of the time at Castle Hohenschwangau , a fantasy castle his father had built near the Schwansee (Swan Lake) near Füssen . It was decorated in the gothic style with countless frescoes on the walls depicting heroic German sagas. He also visited Lake Starnberg with his family. As an adolescent, Ludwig became best friends with his aide de camp , the Prince Paul Maximilian Lamoral of Thurn and Taxis of Bavaria's wealthy Thurn and Taxis family. The two young men rode together, read poetry aloud, and staged scenes from the Romantic operas of Richard Wagner . The friendship ended when Paul became engaged in 1866. During his youth Ludwig also initiated a lifelong friendship with his half-first cousin once removed, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria , later Empress of Austria .

They loved nature and poetry; Elisabeth called Ludwig "Eagle" and he called her "Dove." Early reign and wars Ludwig II just after his accession to the throne of Bavaria Ludwig had just turned 18 when Maximilian II died after a three-day illness, and the Crown Prince ascended the Bavarian throne . [3] Although he was still not fully prepared for high office, his youth and brooding good looks made him popular in Bavaria and elsewhere. One of the first acts of his reign was to summon composer Richard Wagner to his court in Munich. [4] Wagner had a notorious reputation as a revolutionary and was constantly on the run from creditors. But Ludwig had admired Wagner since first seeing his opera, Lohengrin . Wagner's operas appealed to the king's fantasy-filled imagination. On 5 May 1864, the 51-year-old Wagner met Ludwig in the Royal Palace in Munich; later the composer wrote of his first meeting with Ludwig, "Alas, he is so handsome and wise, soulful and lovely, that I fear that his life must melt away in this vulgar world like a fleeting dream of the gods." [4] The king was likely the saviour of Wagner's career.

Without Ludwig, it is doubted that Wagner's subsequent operas would have been composed, much less prestigiously premiered. A year after meeting the king, Wagner presented his latest work, Tristan und Isolde , in Munich, to great acclaim. But the composer’s extravagant and notorious behavior in the capital was unsettling for the conservative people of Bavaria, and the king asked Wagner to leave the city six months later. The greatest stresses of Ludwig's early reign were pressure to produce an heir , and relations with militant Prussia . Both issues came to the forefront in 1867. Ludwig II and Duchess Sophie in Bavaria Ludwig became engaged to Duchess Sophie in Bavaria , his cousin and the youngest sister of his dear friend, Empress Elisabeth of Austria . The engagement was publicized on 22 January 1867, but after repeatedly postponing the wedding date, Ludwig finally cancelled the engagement in October. A few days before the engagement had been announced, Sophie had received a letter from the king telling her what she already knew: "The main substance of our relationship has always been ...

Richard Wagner's remarkable and deeply moving destiny." [5] After the engagement was broken off, Ludwig wrote to his former fiancee, "My beloved Elsa! Your cruel father has torn us apart. Eternally yours, Heinrich" (the names Elsa and Heinrich came from characters from Wagner operas) [5] Ludwig never married, but Sophie later married Ferdinand d'Orléans , duc d'Alençon (1844–1910). Relations with Prussia took center stage starting in 1866. During the Seven Weeks' War , which began in July, Ludwig agreed (as did several other German principalities) to take the side of Austria against Prussia . When the two sides negotiated the war’s settlement, the terms required that Ludwig accept a mutual defense treaty with Prussia. This treaty placed Bavaria back on the firing line three years later, when the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Prussia and her allies prevailed in this conflict, and an emboldened Prussia now finished her campaign to unify all of the minor German kingdoms into one German Empire under the rule of King Wilhelm I of Prussia , who would now be declared Emperor, or Kaiser .

At the request of Prussian Minister President Bismarck (and in exchange for certain financial concessions), Ludwig wrote a letter (the so-called Kaiserbrief) in December 1870 endorsing the creation of the German Empire . With the creation of the Empire , Bavaria lost its status as an independent kingdom and became another state in the empire. Ludwig attempted to protest these alterations by refusing to attend the ceremony where Wilhelm I was proclaimed the first Kaiser . [6] After the creation of the greater Germany, Ludwig increasingly withdrew from politics, and devoted himself to his personal creative projects, most famously his castles. Ludwig’s castles The coat of arms of King Ludwig over the entrance to Schloss Neuschwanstein . Ludwig was notably eccentric in ways that made serving as Bavaria’s head of state problematic. He disliked large public functions and avoided formal social events whenever possible, and preferred a life of fantasy that he pursued with various creative projects. These idiosyncrasies caused tension with the king's government ministers, but did not cost him popularity among common Bavarians. The king enjoyed traveling in the Bavarian countryside and chatting with farmers and laborers he met along the way.

He also delighted in rewarding those who were hospitable to him during his travels with lavish gifts. He is still remembered in Bavaria as Unser Kini, which means "our darling king" in the Bavarian dialect. Ludwig also used his personal fortune to fund the construction of a series of elaborate castles. In 1861 he visited Viollet-le-Duc 's work at Pierrefonds , in France, which largely influenced the style of their construction. These projects provided many laborers employment and brought a considerable flow of money to the regions where his castles were built. In 1868, Ludwig commissioned the first drawings for two of his buildings. The first was Schloss Neuschwanstein , or "New Swanstone Castle", a dramatic Romanesque fortress with soaring fairy-tale towers. The second was Herrenchiemsee , a replica of the central section of the palace at Versailles , France, Herrenchiemsee which was to be sited on the Herren Island in the middle of the Chiemsee Lake, was meant to outdo its predecessor in scale and opulence.

The following year, he finished the construction of the royal apartment in the Residenz Palace in Munich , which was followed three years later by the addition of an opulent conservatory or Winter Garden on the palace roof. It featured an ornamental lake with gardens and painted frescoes, and was roofed over using a technically advanced metal and glass construction. [7] An 1890s photochrom print of Schloss Neuschwanstein . In 1869, Ludwig oversaw the laying of the cornerstone for Schloss Neuschwanstein on a breathtaking mountaintop site overlooking his childhood home, the castle his father had built at Hohenschwangau . The walls of Neuschwanstein are decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from many of Wagner's operas, including the somewhat less than mystic Meistersinger. In 1872, he began construction for a special festival theater dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner , in the town of Bayreuth . A few years later, he watched early versions of Wagner’s Ring Cycle operas there, though he avoided the public performances.

In 1878, construction was completed on Ludwig’s Schloss Linderhof , an ornate palace in neo-French Rococo style, with handsome formal gardens. The grounds contained a Venus grotto lit by electricity, where opera singers performed while Ludwig was rowed in a boat shaped like a shell. In the grounds a romantic woodsman's hut was also built around an artificial tree. The hut, referred to as Hundings Hut, is a reference to a similar structure in der Ring des Niebelungen. There is a sword embedded in the tree. In Walküre, Siegfried's father Siegmund, pulls the sword from the tree. Inside the palace, iconography reflected Ludwig's fascination with the absolutist government of Ancien Régime France. Ludwig saw himself as the "Moon King", a romantic shadow of the earlier "Sun King", Louis XIV of France. From Linderhof, Ludwig enjoyed moonlit sleigh rides in an elaborate eighteenth century sleigh, complete with footmen in eighteenth century livery . Also in 1878, construction began on his Versailles-derived Herrenchiemsee .

In 1879 he travelled to England and visited Sir Richard Wallace , to whom he had written for advice on England's medieval architecture [8] . Wallace advised Ludwig to take a tour of the English countryside in order to survey a variety of ecclesiastical buildings, that he might draw inspiration from them for future building projects. In a letter to Wallace, Ludwig expressed particular admiration for the buildings of Hertfordshire , which he toured extensively. In the 1880s, Ludwig’s plans proceeded undimmed. He planned construction of a new castle on the Falkenstein near Pfronten in the Allgäu (based on the the tower of St Mary's Church, Baldock ) [9] , a Byzantine palace in the Graswangtal and a Chinese summer palace in Tyrol . By 1885, demolition for the beginning of the Falkenstein project was underway, and the road to the site had been graded. Controversy and struggle for power Although the king had paid for his pet projects out of his own funds and not the state coffers, [10] that did not necessarily spare Bavaria from financial fallout.

By 1885, the king was 14 million marks in debt, had borrowed heavily from his family, and rather than economizing, as his financial ministers advised him, he undertook new opulence and new designs without pause. He demanded that loans be sought from all of Europe’s royalty, and remained aloof from matters of state. Feeling harassed and irritated by his ministers, he considered dismissing the entire cabinet and replacing them with fresh faces. The cabinet decided to act first. Seeking a cause to depose Ludwig by constitutional means, the rebelling ministers decided on the rationale that he was mentally ill, and unable to rule. They asked Ludwig's uncle, Prince Luitpold , to step into the royal vacancy once Ludwig was deposed. Luitpold agreed, so long as the conspirators produced reliable proof that the king was in fact helplessly insane. Between January and March 1886, the conspirators assembled the Arztliches Gutachten or Medical Report, on Ludwig’s fitness to rule. Most of the details in the report were compiled by Count von Holnstein, who was disillusioned with Ludwig and actively sought his downfall.

Holnstein used his high rank to extract a long list of complaints, accounts, and gossip about Ludwig from among the king’s servants. The litany of bizarre behavior included his pathological shyness; his avoidance of state business; his complex and expensive flights of fancy, including moonlit picnics at which his young groomsmen were said to strip naked and dance; conversations with imaginary persons; sloppy and childish table manners; dispatching servants on lengthy and expensive voyages to research architectural details in foreign lands; and abusive, sometimes violent treatment of his servants. While some of these accusations were doubtless accurate[citation needed], exactly which, and to what degree, may never be known. They were, however, sufficient to convince Prince Luitpold to cooperate. Next the conspirators approached the Prussian Minister-President, Otto von Bismarck , who doubted the report’s veracity, but did not stop the ministers from carrying out their plan. In early June, the report was finalized and signed by a panel of four psychiatrists: Dr. Bernhard von Gudden , chief of the Munich Asylum; Dr Hubert von Grashey (who was Gudden's son-in-law); and their colleagues, a Dr.

Hagen and a Dr. Hubrich. The report declared in its final sentences that the king suffered from paranoia , and concluded, “Suffering from such a disorder, freedom of action can no longer be allowed and Your Majesty is declared incapable of ruling, which incapacity will be not only for a year's duration, but for the length of Your Majesty's life." The men had never met the king, nor examined him. Deposition Ludwig II of Bavaria towards the end of his life On 9 June 1886, a government commission including Holnstein and von Gudden arrived at Neuschwanstein to formally deliver the document of deposition to the king and place him in custody. Tipped off by a faithful servant, Ludwig ordered the local police to protect him, and the commissioners were held back from the castle gate at bayonet-point. In an especially famous sideshow, the commissioners were attacked by an elderly local baroness loyal to the king, who flailed at the men with her umbrella and then rushed to the king’s apartments to identify the conspirators. After holding the commissioners captive for the night, Ludwig released them on 10 June.

The king’s friends and allies urged him to flee, or to show himself in Munich and thus regain the support of the people. Ludwig declined, instead issuing a statement, which was published by a Bamberg newspaper on 11 June: The Prince Luitpold intends, against my will, to ascend to the Regency of my land, and my erstwhile ministry has, through false allegations regarding the state of my health, deceived my beloved people, and is preparing to commit acts of high treason. [...] I call upon every loyal Bavarian to rally around my loyal supporters to thwart the planned treason against the King and the fatherland. The government succeeded in suppressing the statement by seizing most copies of the newspaper. As the king dithered, his support waned. Peasants who rallied to his cause were dispersed, and the police who guarded his castle were replaced by troops of Luitpold’s own guard. Evidently the king decided he would like to escape, but it was too late. In the early hours of 12 June, a second commission arrived. The King was arrested at 4:00 am and taken to a waiting carriage. He asked Dr. Gudden, "How can you declare me insane?

After all, you have never seen or examined me before." [11] Ludwig was transported to Castle Berg on the shores of Lake Starnberg , south of Munich. Mysterious death On 13 June around 6:00 pm, Ludwig asked Gudden to accompany him on a walk along the shore of Lake Starnberg. Gudden agreed, and told the guards not to follow them. The two men never returned. At 11:30 that night, searchers found both the king and Gudden dead, floating in the shallow water near the shore. Ludwig's death was officially ruled a suicide by drowning, but this has been questioned. [12] [13] Ludwig was known to be a strong swimmer, the water was less than waist-deep where his body was found, and the official autopsy report indicated that no water was found in his lungs. [12] [14] Ludwig had expressed suicidal feelings during the crisis, but the suicide theory does not fully explain Gudden's death. Memorial Cross at the site where the body of Ludwig II was found in the Starnberger Lake Many hold that Ludwig was murdered by his enemies while attempting to escape from Bergter.

One account suggests that the king was shot. [12] The King's personal fisherman, Jakob Lidl , stated, "Three years after the king's death I was made to swear an oath that I would never say certain things — not to my wife, not on my deathbed, and not to any priest ... The state has undertaken to look after my family if anything should happen to me in either peace time or war." Lidl kept his oath, at least orally, but left behind notes which were found after his death. According to Lidl, he had hidden behind bushes with his boat, waiting to meet the king, in order to row him out into the lake, where loyalists were waiting to help him escape. "As the king stepped up to his boat and put one foot in it, a shot rang out from the bank, apparently killing him on the spot, for the king fell across the bow of the boat." [12] [15] However, there was no evidence of scars or wounds found on the body of the dead king. Another theory suggests that Ludwig died of natural causes (such as a heart attack or stroke ) brought on by the extreme cold of the lake during an escape attempt.

[12] Ludwig’s remains were dressed in the regalia of the Order of the Knights of St. Hubert , and lay in state in the royal chapel at the Munich Residence Palace. In his right hand he held a posy of white jasmine picked for him by his cousin the Empress Elisabeth of Austria. [16] After an elaborate funeral on 19 June 1886, Ludwig's remains were interred in the crypt of the Michaelskirche in Munich. His heart, however, does not lie with the rest of his body. Bavarian tradition called for the heart of the king to be placed in a silver urn and sent to the Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of the Mercy) in Altötting , where they were placed beside those of his father and grandfather. After his death, a small memorial chapel was built overlooking the site. A remembrance ceremony is held there each year on 13 June. The King was succeeded by his brother Otto, but since Otto was genuinely incapacitated by mental illness, the king’s uncle Luitpold remained regent . Legacy Herrenchiemsee Castle Most historians believe that Ludwig was deeply peculiar and irresponsible, but the question of clinical insanity remains unresolved.

[1] Others believe he may have suffered from the effects of chloroform used in an effort to control chronic toothache rather than any psychological disorder. His cousin Empress Elisabeth held that "The King was not mad; he was just an eccentric living in a world of dreams. They might have treated him more gently, and thus perhaps spared him so terrible an end." King Ludwig’s uncle Luitpold maintained the regency until his own death in 1912 at the age of 91. He was succeeded as regent by his eldest son, also named Ludwig. The regency lasted for 13 months until November 1913, when the new regent declared the regency at an end, deposed the still-living but still-institutionalized King Otto, and declared himself King Ludwig III of Bavaria . His reign lasted until the end of the First World War , when monarchy in all of Germany came to an end. Today visitors pay tribute to King Ludwig by visiting his grave as well as his castles. Ironically, the very castles which were said to be causing the king’s financial ruin have today become extremely profitable tourist attractions for the Bavarian state.

The palaces have paid for themselves many times over and attract millions of tourists from all over the world to Germany each year. Buildings Winter Garden , Residenz Palace , Munich - After the king’s death, the Winter Garden on the roof of the Festsaalbau of the Residenz Palace (ca. 1870) was dismantled in 1897 because of water leaking from the ornamental lake through the ceiling of the rooms below. Photographs and sketches still record this incredible creation which included a grotto, a Moorish kiosk, an Indian royal tent, an artificially illuminated rainbow and intermittent moonlight. [7] [17] Neuschwanstein Castle - At the time of the king's death, the castle was not finished. But the delicate spires of Neuschwanstein rising above the Bavarian gorges have come to make up one of Europe's iconic buildings. The castle is a landmark well-known by many non-Germans, and was used by Walt Disney in the twentieth century as the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castles at Disneylands around the world.

The grounds are open to tourists, and the king's residential quarters can be visited, as can the servant's rooms, the kitchens and the monumental throne room. The throne itself was never completed, although sketches show how it might have looked on completion. [18] Linderhof Castle - The sleigh in which the king took his moonlit rides can today be viewed with other royal carriages at the Carriage Museum at Castle Nymphenburg in Munich. There is also a Moorish Pavilion in the ground of Linderhof Castle. Herrenchiemsee - Most of the palace remained incomplete after the king ran out of money, and Ludwig spent only 10 days there before his death. It is interesting to note that tourists come from France to view the recreation of the famous Ambassador's staircase. The original Ambassador's staircase in Versailles, France was demolished in 1752. [19] Ludwig also outfitted Schachen king's house with an overwhelmingly decorative Arabian style interior, including a replica of the famous Peacock Throne . There are rumors of luxurious parties with the king sometimes reclining in the role of Turkish sultan while the most handsome soldiers and stable boys served him as scantily clad dancers.

Ludwig ordered to decorate a new splendid private apartment in the second floor of the prince's wing of Trausnitz Castle (1869-1873). In 1961, a fire destroyed much of the interior decoration, including the king's rooms. Ludwig left behind a large collection of plans and designs for other castles that were never built, as well as plans for further rooms in his completed buildings. Many of these designs are housed today in the King Ludwig II Museum at Herrenchiemsee Castle. Ludwig and the arts Ludwig II with Richard Wagner, the composer of Lohengrin and many other romantic operas, at the piano It has been said that Richard Wagner’s late career is part of Ludwig’s legacy, since he almost certainly would have been unable to complete his opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen or to write his final opera, Parsifal , without the king’s support. Ludwig also sponsored the premieres of Tristan und Isolde , Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and, through his financial support of the Bayreuth Festival , those of Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal.

Ludwig II of Bavaria's buildings Palaces/castles built Ludwig in popular culture Literature, stage and film The 1972 film Ludwig , directed by Luchino Visconti was based on his life. It traces the life of Ludwig II from his accession to death, and stars Helmut Berger as Ludwig II and Romy Schneider as the Austrian Empress Elisabeth. The 1972 German film Ludwig - Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König (Ludwig - Requiem for a Virgin King), written and directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg provides a more personal, sympathetic and idiosyncratic account of the King's life from his boyhood to his death. It stars Harry Baer and Balthasar Thomass as Ludwig II, and Gerhard Maerz and Anette Tirier as Richard Wagner . An earlier film, directed by Helmut Kautner , entitled Ludwig II (1955), starred O. W. Fischer in the role of Ludwig II and Ruth Leuwerik in the role of Empress Elizabeth.

An epic film, Wagner (1983), directed by Tony Palmer for the London Cultural Trust, on the life of Richard Wagner , starring Richard Burton in the role of Wagner, also features Laszlo Galffi in the substantial role of King Ludwig. The early 21st century play Valhalla by playwright Paul Rudnick prominently features Ludwig as the play unfolds in 19th century Bavaria and 1940s Texas. A play by Jordan Harrison, "Doris to Darlene: A Cautionary Valentine," features Ludwig II and his relationship with Wagner as two central characters. It premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York in December 2007. The three-volume manga series Ludwig II (Ruutovihi II sei) by the artist You Higuri , published by Kadokawa Shoten , is a highly fictionalized account of Ludwig's love life. The Busch Gardens Europe ride The Curse of DarKastle features Ludwig as a king whose parents, and later, party guests "mysteriously disappeared", and who now haunts his old castle terrorizing guests riding golden sleighs. As with Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within, werewolves figure in the ride.

Takarazuka Revue has adopted the life of the emperor for a musical production. Ludwig figures in The Alabaster Egg, a novel by Gillian Freeman . There is an anecdote of the death of Ludwig II by T. S. Eliot in the first stanza of The Waste Land . Sharyn McCrumb 's 1984 mystery novel Sick of Shadows features a character who identifies with Ludwig II and builds a replica of Neuschwanstein castle in Virginia. The also acts out a few more disturbing incidents from Ludwig's life. The 1993 novel Sherlock in Love by Sena Jeter Naslund features an appearance by the Mad King Ludwig. Music A number of musicals based on the life of Ludwig II have been staged. One was called, Ludwig: The Musical by Rolf Rettburg and another, Ludwig II: Longing For Paradise with music by Franz Hummel and lyrics by Stephen Barbarino. A special theatre was constructed on the shores of the lake at Fussen, not far from Castles Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein, specifically for the musical performances.

The Clean 's spoken-word song Ludwig, and Amon Duul II's 1975 song of the same name are about him. The electronic duo Matmos recorded a song entitled "Banquet for King Ludwig II of Bavaria" on their 2006 album The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast . Electronic music composer Klaus Schulze wrote the song "Ludwig II von Bayern" on his album X . The German power metal group, Freedom Call, released their latest album which is a concept album about the life of King Ludwig II. Ancestry Bibliography English-language biographies and related information on Ludwig II Blunt, Wilfred; Petzet, Michael. The Dream King: Ludwig II of Bavaria. 1970. ISBN 0-241-11293-1, ISBN 0-14-003606-7. von Burg, Katerina. Ludwig II of Bavaria. 1989. ISBN 1-870417-02-X. Calore, Paola. Past and Present Castles of Bavaria. 1998.

ISBN 1-84056-019-3. Chapman-Huston, Desmond. Bavarian Fantasy: The Story of Ludwig II. 1955. King, Greg. The Mad King: The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria. 1996. ISBN 1-55972-362-9. McIntosh, Christopher. The Swan King: Ludwig II of Bavaria. 1982. ISBN 1-86064-892-4. Nohbauer, Hans. Ludwig II. 1998. ISBN 3-8228-7430-2. Richter, Werner. The Mad Monarch: The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria. 1954. German-language biographies and related information on Ludwig II Botzenhart, Christof: Die Regierungstätigkeit König Ludwig II.

von Bayern - "ein Schattenkönig ohne Macht will ich nicht sein", München, Verlag Beck, 2004, 234 S., ISBN 3-406-10737-0. Desing, Julius: Wahnsinn oder Verrat - war König Ludwig II. von Bayern geisteskrank?, Lechbruck, Verlag Kienberger, 1996. Hojer, Gerhard: König Ludwig II. - Museum Herrenchiemsee, München, Hirmer Verlag, 1986. ISBN 3-7774-4160-0. Petzet, Michael: König Ludwig und die Kunst, Prestel Verlag, München, 1968. Petzet, Michael; Neumeister, Werner: Ludwig II. und seine Schlösser: Die Welt des Bayerischen Märchenkönigs, Prestel Verlag, München, 1995. ISBN 3-7913-1471-8. Reichold, Klaus: König Ludwig II.

von Bayern - zwischen Mythos und Wirklichkeit, Märchen und Alptraum; Stationen eines schlaflosen Lebens; München, Süddt. Verl., 1996. Richter, Werner: Ludwig II., König von Bayern, 14. Aufl.; München, Stiebner, 2001, 335 S., ISBN 3-8307-1021-6. Schäffler, Anita; Borkowsky, Sandra; Adami, Erich: König Ludwig II. von Bayern und seine Reisen in die Schweiz - 20. Oktober - 2. November 1865, 22. Mai - 24. Mai 1866, 27. Juni - 14. Juli 1881; eine Dokumentation, Füssen, 2005. Wolf, Georg Jacob: König Ludwig II. und seine Welt, München, Franz Hanfstaengl, 1922.

External links Flights to Munich from £47 | Cheap Munich flights | lastminute.com Flights to Munich Information about flights to Munich Sitting in the shadow of the snow-capped Bavarian Alps, Munich is a deeply traditional and old-world German city at ease with its cosmopolitan, hi-tech European status. From the flashy FC Bayern Munich football stadium, resembling a gigantic spaceship on the outskirts of the city, to the high-tech glass and steel headquarters of BMW, Munich is at the cutting edge of technology. Yet the city retains a defiantly German atmosphere, famously embodied in the beer-guzzling madness of Oktoberfest, and visible year round dirndl-clad waitresses, impressive Bavarian architecture and German hospitality known as Gemütlichkeit. Beer gardens and Bratwurst A trip to Munich would be incomplete without a visit to an atmospheric bierkeller. The most famous of Munich's beer halls is the Hofbräuhaus, but locals prefer the Augustiner Bräustuben. The aroma of hops will greet you as you arrive at the oldest brewery in the city. They take their craft very seriously and the food is also superb, especially the Schweinschaxe (pork knuckle).

Work up an appetite wandering through the Viktualienmarkt where you can try Speck (smoked Black Forest ham) and local cheeses at open air stalls. Browsing continues next door in the historic Schrannenhalle – a wrought-iron market hall once home to grain sellers, it now contains a market, restaurants and shops. Art and Architecture The opera house and concert halls are world-renowned, especially for performances of Wagner whose patron was ‘mad' King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The artistic legacy lives on today and the city is endowed with world-famous art collections. Established in 1836 the Alte Pinakothek is one of the oldest galleries in the world, with masterpieces by Raphael, Cezanne and Van Gogh, to name just a few. The Pinakothek der Moderne is a world-class recent addition, as is the multi-coloured Museum Brandhorst, which displays everything post-modern from Andy Warhol to Damien Hirst. Explore the Neuschwanstein commissioned by King Ludwig II as homage to Wagner. It was the inspiration for the castle in Disney's Sleeping Beauty and gives a magical taste of Bavarian romanticism architecture.

To remain rooted in the 21st century visit the Deutsches Musuem, the world's largest science museum. Munich's skyline is dominated by the twin 100m-high towers of the 15th-century Frauenkirche. Climb to the top for spectacular views over the city, or to plan your route to the next beer hall. Also offering great views is Munich's oldest church, St Peter's dating from 1180, which has a splendid altar and also contains the strange gilt and jewel covered skeleton of St Mundita, sitting on a cushion. Festivals Munich has numerous festivals throughout the year so if you aren't visiting when Oktoberfest is on don't panic. Many Münchners prefer the more modest annual March Starkbierfest – strong beer festival. July sees the Tollwood summer festival celebrating world cuisine, music, outdoor theatre and environmental friendliness. And if you've booked to visit in December you'll find Christmas markets galore, with craft stalls, mulled wine and Bratwurst. Flexible on when you visit? Flights to Munich in February 30/01/17 - 05/02/17

Question: Whose patron was Ludwig II of Bavaria?
Answer: Wagner