Ludwig the Second, King of Bavaria

At the birth of Ludwig II., enigmatic as he was unfortunate, of whom I propose to give a sketch, his grandfather, the eccentric Ludwig I., was still King of Bavaria. His father,...

Ludwig's tutor, the Count de Larosée, has expressed his conception of his pupil's character in the following words: "The Crown Prince is intelligent and highly gifted. He is alr...

On the 9th of March, 1864, he signed in his bed the last documents of his reign. The same evening the doctors relinquished all hope of being able to save his life. It had long b...

Shortly after his ascent of the throne Ludwig was visited by the Emperor and Empress of Austria. Elizabeth was his cousin. At the time that she went to Vienna as Empress he was...

Richard Wagner, in the preface to his Niebelungenlied, asks the following question:--"Is the prince to be found who will make possible the representation of my work?" Ludwig of...

We know that Schiller, from Ludwig's childhood, had been his favourite poet. At Munich, as in all other theatres, the master's works had hitherto only been given in an abridged...

The future Emperor Wilhelm I.--"der Siegeskaiser," as he was called--had in 1861 succeeded his romantic, and in the end, insane brother, Friedrich Wilhelm IV., as King of Prussi...

He appeared with great brilliance, his suite consisting of no less than a hundred and nineteen persons. Although the war had brought Bavaria neither honour nor advantage, and al...

At a court ball which took place during one of the first years of Ludwig's reign, he said to one of his gentlemen-in-waiting: "There are many pretty women at my court, are there...

In the midst of the preparations for the wedding the King made several journeys. At the beginning of June he went with Prince Otto to Eisenach, in order to see Wartburg. Later i...

Though Ludwig's initiative had dictated the rupture with Sophie, it is certain that at the end the parting was not easy to him, and that it was not without influence on his futu...

In the latter half of September, 1868, the Empress of Russia came to Munich accompanied by a numerous suite. Her unsuccessful matrimonial project did not seem to have diminished...

His subjects began to give up the hope of seeing their King a husband. Several political parties, however, hoped that they might be able to influence him through a mistress. The...

Bavaria had escaped comparatively easily from the war of 1866. Bismarck had had good reasons for this end: that astute statesman foresaw the approaching war with France, and it...

Bismarck, after the peace of 1866, had received a visible sign of the Bavarian King's favour. Ludwig II. had conferred upon him the Order of Humbertus, a distinction which, acco...

When Ludwig on the 17th January, 1870, opened the Landtag, he said, in his Speech from the Throne: "The agreement I have concluded with Prussia is known to the country! Faithful...

The blue and white Bavarian and the black and white Prussian banners were waving side by side in the streets when the Crown Prince proceeded on his journey that same evening. Th...

With the last-named fact the essence of the new Empire is characterised: Prussia was the paramount country. The other four and seventy states were not to be without a voice in t...

Ludwig II. and the Crown Prince of Germany had been mutually displeased with one another. Nevertheless, Friedrich had hardly left the Bavarian capital before information was rec...

The House of Wittelsbach has been terribly ravaged by insanity. In the course of one hundred years more than twenty members of the family have been visited by this misfortune.

The Bavarian people had accustomed themselves to Ludwig's peculiarities. Foreign states and peoples still regarded his ways and actions as signs of genius. The King himself seem...

Ludwig's spite against a single member of the House of Hohenzollern destroyed the good relations with his relatives in Berlin. By way of off-set, the sympathy he felt for the Em...

A picture very often to be seen in Bavaria is one representing Maximilian II. and his family in the garden at Hohenschwangau. The Queen is sitting with Prince Otto on her lap, a...

One Christmas night in the seventies, Ludwig II. was present with the Queen-mother and the royal Princes at the midnight Mass in the court church at Munich. In the midst of the...

When Bavaria in 1880 celebrated the seven hundredth anniversary of the House of Wittelsbach, the King declined to have any festivities. He issued a proclamation from his highlan...

As long as Richard Wagner had lived in Munich it had only been necessary for him to express a wish with regard to the performance of his works, for the King at once to fulfil it...

A French journalist who saw Ludwig II. in his youth, has said: "His beauty belongs to the romantic type. His dark eyes are dreamy and full of enthusiasm. His handsome face, eleg...

The Bavarians were in general inclined to forgive their King's peculiarities. A single weakness, however, they found it difficult to condone: they did not like his habit of comm...

Ludwig II. inherited his grandfather's love of building. Writing to his son, King Otto of Greece, at Christmas 1852, Ludwig I. says: "When the Christmas presents were distribute...

At the time of Ludwig's first visit to Paris, Cora Pearl, noted alike for her beauty and her frivolity, sent the young King her portrait. None of his suite dared to present it t...

Joseph Kainz, the actor, who was later so celebrated, had, at the beginning of the eighties, an engagement at Munich; he was then twenty-three years of age. The King saw him for...

In order to avoid remark, Ludwig had decided that his special train should pick him up at ten o'clock in the evening, on the 27th of June, at the station of Mühlthal, near Starn...

The friend of Ludwig's childhood, Count Holnstein, had made himself well-nigh indispensable at the Bavarian court; and in order further to increase his power he had filled the s...

In the most beautiful of the castles built by Ludwig II. there stands near the entrance to the fine concert-room a curious piece of statuary, for the execution of which he himse...

For the first two days he fell in with her habits, driving out with her and keeping her company in the evenings. But he soon returned to his usual mode of life. When he said goo...

Bavaria was distressed and saddened in the spring of 1886. No personal lecture took place any longer before the King. All affairs of state were conducted in writing, and all Lud...

The influence of Count von Holnstein at the court of Bavaria had lasted up to 1883, when he fell into disfavour. The reason for this is not generally known. It has been said tha...

Hesselschwerdt, it need hardly be said, could no more show himself before the King. He informed his master that he had been taken ill, and therefore had been unable to proceed t...

It was the earnest desire of all who wished the King well that he should proceed to his capital, a course which undoubtedly would have been the only means of saving him. He had...

The gendarmes of the district were relieved during the course of the night by others from Munich, who occupied the castle. Ludwig, who the preceding day had overcome his enemies...

In the first carriage sat Dr Müller and two keepers. In the second was the King, quite alone. By the side of the coachman sat the head keeper from the madhouse at Munich, and cl...

The hearse, which was drawn by four horses and was accompanied by his servants and by priests, arrived at the capital at half-past three in the morning. Great numbers of country...