Franz Bavarian

Franz was born on July 14, 1933 in Munich . The eldest son of Prince Albrecht (1905–1996), head of the Bavarian House (1955–1996), and his first morganatic wife, Countess Maria Francis Juliane Johann Draškovic von Trakoscany (1904—69) of an ancient Croatian family .

May 18, 1949 , when Franz was sixteen, his grandfather Crown Prince Ruprecht recognized his parents' dynastic marriage, and Franz became the Prince of Bavaria.

The House of Wittelsbach was opposed to the Nazi regime in Germany. In 1939, Prince Alberecht , Franz's father, moved with his family to Hungary. They lived in Budapest , and four years later, at the end of 1943 , they moved to their castle in Sarvar . In March 1944, German troops occupied Hungary, and on October 6, 1944, the whole family, including the 11-year-old Franz, was arrested. They were imprisoned in the concentration camps of Sachsenhausen and Dachau . At the end of April 1945, they were liberated by the third US Army.

After the war, Franz received a secondary education in Ettal, a Benedictine abbey . He then studied business and management at the universities of Munich and Zurich . Franz had a passion for collecting contemporary art. Today, many items from his personal collection are permanently stored in the Pinakothek of modernity in Munich . He is also an honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York .

Franz lives in the wing of the Nymphenburg Palace , the former summer residence of the kings of Bavaria in Munich. Germany returned to him the castle of Berg , he sometimes uses the former royal castles of Berchtesgaden and Hohenschwangau , which are the family museums of Wittelsbach.

He speaks German, Hungarian, English and French.

In 2013, Franz celebrated his 80th birthday at the Schleisheim Palace , near Munich . The anniversary was attended by 2500 "richest, most powerful and influential" people of Bavaria, including the current Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer (former President of the German Bundesrat ).

Franz uses the historical titles "Duke of Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia, Count Palatin of the Rhine". His title “His Royal Highness” has no legal status in Germany.

• July 14, 1933 - July 8, 1996 - " His Royal Highness the Prince of Bavaria "
• July 8, 1996 - Present - " His Royal Highness The Duke of Bavaria "
• July 8, 1996 - present - " His Majesty the King of Bavaria ".

Royal titles are not recognized under German law, but may be used as part of a last name. At birth, Franz bore the name "Prinz von Bayern". In 1996, after the death of his father, he changed his last name to “Herzog von Bayern” (“Duke of Bavaria”).

Franz - the current Grand Master of the Royal Order of St. George For the defense of the Immaculate Conception, as well as the Grand Master of the Order of St. Hubert and the Order of Theresa (for ladies). He is also a hereditary senator at the University of Munich and an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He has many honorary positions in public and religious organizations in Bavaria. He supports charitable activities to help orphans in Romania.

Franz of Bavaria was never married and had no children. His heir and future head of the House of Wittelsbach is the younger brother, Prince Max (born 1937 ), the Duke of Bavaria. However, Max of Bavaria in marriage has five daughters, and he has no sons. The next after Max in the lineage of the House of Wittelsbach is their second cousin, Prince Luitpold (born 1951 ).

• Adalbert, Prinz von Bayern . Die Wittelsbacher: Geschichte unserer Familie. - Münch. : Prestel, 1979.
• McFerran, Noel S. Francis II (Neopr.) . The Jacobite Heritage (August 1, 2005). The appeal date is June 22, 2008.
• McFerran, Noel S. The Royal Family, The Nazis, and the Second World War (Neopr.) . The Jacobite Heritage (November 22, 2006). The appeal date is June 22, 2008.