Ludwig III (King of Bavaria)

The eldest son of Prince Regent Luitpold and his wife, Archduke Augusta, Ludwig was named after his grandfather, King of Bavaria, Ludwig I. He spent the first years of his life in the electors' chambers of the Munich residence and the Wittelsbach palace. Then the family moved to the Leuchtenberg Palace.

In 1861, Ludwig began his military career when his uncle, King Maximilian, assigned him the rank of lieutenant of the 6th Jäger Battalion. A year later, the prince entered the University of Munich, where he studied economics and law. At 18, as the prince of the royal house, he automatically became a member of the Senate of Bavaria.

In 1866 , during the Austro-Prussian War , when Bavaria fought on the side of Austria against Prussia, Ludwig was in the army with the rank of lieutenant. In the battle of Helmstedt he was wounded. For participation in hostilities, the prince was awarded a knight's cross of class I.

While still second in line to the Bavarian throne, Prince Ludwig was in Moscow in 1896 at the coronation celebrations of Nicholas II , accompanying Henry of Prussia , brother of the German Emperor. When a deputation from Moscow Germans appeared to them, its chairman expressed his joy in seeing Prince Henry in Moscow "and there are so many German princes in his retinue." Prince Ludwig sharply remarked: “I protest against this expression; we are not vassals, but allies of the German emperor; as such, we were faithful to him 25 years ago, during the war. ” For this speech, Ludwig was attacked by the Prussian conservative, national liberal, and partly even “free-thinking” newspapers; however, he was hotly defended by the Bavarian newspapers.

Throughout his life, Ludwig was interested in agriculture. Back in 1868, he was elected honorary president of the central committee of the Bavarian Agricultural Society. In 1875, he acquired the Leustetten castle and created an exemplary dairy farm with it. The prince was also interested in new technologies, especially hydropower. In 1891, with his participation, the Bavarian Canal Society was created, which planned to connect the Rhine with the sea. In 1896, Ludwig became an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

In 1906, the prince spoke in favor of establishing universal suffrage in Bavaria, as a result of which his position was approved by the head of the German socialists, August Bebel .

Prussian Field Marshal ( June 26, 1915 ).

On February 20, 1868, in Vienna, Prince Ludwig married the only daughter of the late Archduke of Este-Austria Ferdinand, Maria Theresa . This marriage allowed the prince to significantly improve his financial situation, since the late Archduke owned many different estates throughout Europe.

It should be noted that the marriage was extremely successful not only from an economic point of view. The couple were happy in it and had 13 children. Franz, the current head of the Wittelsbach house since 1996 , is their great-grandson.

Surviving children:

• Ruprecht ( 1869 - 1955 ), Crown Prince of Bavaria;
• Adelgund ( 1870 - 1958 ), wife of Wilhelm Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen;
• Maria Louis Theresa ( 1872 - 1954 ), wife of Ferdinand Pius Bourbon of Sicily ;
• Karl ( 1874 - 1927 );
• Franz ( 1875 - 1957 );
• Matilda ( 1877 - 1906 ), wife of Ludwig Gaston of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ;
• Wolfgang ( 1879 - 1895 );
• Guildegard ( 1881 - 1948 );
• Wiltrude ( 1884 - 1975 ), wife of Wilhelm von Urach ;
• Helmtrud ( 1886 - 1977 );
• Gundelinda ( 1891 - 1983 ).

After the death of his father, Ludwig became regent of Bavaria. However, in general, the population supported the idea that Ludwig, who was already 67 years old, became king. To do this, amendments were made to the Constitution of Bavaria, which introduced the clause that if the monarch has not been able to perform his duties for 10 years due to health reasons, this is the reason for his removal. On the basis of this paragraph (which the majority in the upper and lower houses of the Bavarian parliament voted for), Otto I was removed from power (which he probably didn’t even know about), and Ludwig became the last king of Bavaria on November 5, 1913 (swore 8 November ).

In general, the board was moderately conservative. In his social policy, Ludwig was guided by the papal encyclical De Rerum Novarum . Bavarian Prime Minister Georg von Görtling , appointed by the king’s father, retained this post. Despite his title, the king did not abandon his passion for agriculture (the Leustetten farm continued to be exemplary), as a result of which he received the satirical nickname “Dairy Farmer” ( German Millibauer ).

However, the First World War put an end to this pastoral-patriarchal rule. Ludwig immediately expressed support for the policy of William, while hoping that with the victory of Germany, the territory of Bavaria will expand at the expense of neighboring states. But gradually the situation in the state worsened. Accused of demonstrating the blind loyalty of Prussia, Ludwig became more and more unpopular in Bavaria. After the beginning of the November Revolution, the king fled the palace on November 7, 1918, and abdicated from the throne on November 13, 1918. One of the oldest monarchies in Europe ceased to exist.

After Kurt Eisner was killed by the monarchist in February 1919 , the former king, believing that he could become a target for retaliation, left for Austria, and then to Liechtenstein and Switzerland . In April 1920, he returned to Bavaria and lived in the castle of Wildenwart. He remained there until September 1921 , when he took a trip to his estate in Sárvár in Hungary, where he died on October 18, 1921.

On November 5, 1921, Ludwig’s body was returned to Munich with the body of his wife, who died in February 1919. A solemn state funeral was held for the former king and his wife, and their bodies were placed in the crypt of the Cathedral of the Virgin (Frauenkirche) .

• Louis-Leopold-Joseph-Maria-Aloysius-Alfred // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Alfons Beckenbauer: Ludwig III. von Bayern 1845-1921. Ein König auf der Suche nach seinem Volk . Pustet, Regensburg 1987, ISBN 3-7917-1130-X (Biographie)
• Heinrich Biron: Ludwig III. (in der Reihe Königreich Bayern ). TR Verlagsunion, München 2006, ISBN 3-8058-3769-0
• Hubert Glaser: Ludwig II. und Ludwig III. - Kontraste und Kontinuitäten . In: Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte 59 (1996), S. 1-14
• Eberhard Straub: Die Wittelsbacher . Siedler, Berlin 1994, ISBN 978-3886804672