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Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria

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Luitpold Karl Joseph Wilhelm Ludwig, Prince Regent of Bavaria (12 March 1821 – 12 December 1912), was the de facto ruler of Bavaria from 1886 to 1912, as regent for his nephews, King Ludwig II and King Otto. His regency arose due to his nephews' mental incapacity.[1]

Prince Luitpold
The Prince Regent in 1888
Prince Regent of Bavaria
Regency10 June 1886 – 12 December 1912
SuccessorPrince Ludwig
MonarchLudwig II
Otto
Born(1821-03-12)12 March 1821
Würzburg, Bavaria
Died12 December 1912(1912-12-12) (aged 91)
Munich, Bavaria
Burial
Theatinerkirche, Munich, Bavaria
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1844; died 1864)​
Issue
Names
German: Luitpold Karl Joseph Wilhelm Ludwig
Leopold Charles Joseph William Louis
HouseWittelsbach
FatherLudwig I of Bavaria
MotherTherese of Saxe-Hildburghausen
SignaturePrince Luitpold's signature

Early life

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Luitpold was born in Würzburg, the third son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his wife, Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. He was the younger brother of King Maximilian II of Bavaria and of King Otto of Greece. Luitpold was in line to succeed to the throne of the Kingdom of Bavaria, and was also heir presumptive to the throne of Greece, since his brother Otto had no children. However, the Greek constitution required that Otto's heir should belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. Otto was deposed in 1862 and replaced by Prince William of Denmark, who became George I, King of the Hellenes. Otto died in 1867, leaving Luitpold and his descendants as representatives of Otto's claim. However, Luitpold never pursued that claim.

 
Prince Luitpold of Bavaria

At the age of fourteen, Luitpold joined the Bavarian Army and was promoted to captain of the artillery in 1835. During the revolutions of 1848, Prince Luitpold mediated and facilitated an audience of discontented citizens with his father. During the rule of his brother Maximilian II (1848–64), Luitpold did not play a significant political role.

With the reign of his nephew Ludwig II (1864–1886), Prince Luitpold had increasingly to represent the royal house due to the king's long absence from the capital. In the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 Luitpold was commander of the 3rd Royal Bavarian Division. After the war, he participated in the reorganization of Bavarian Army.[2] In 1869, he became Inspector General of the Bavarian Army, during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and 1871, he represented Bavaria in the German General Staff. In that capacity, he handed over Ludwig's Kaiserbrief on 3 December 1870, in which Ludwig endorsed the creation of the German Empire with the King of Prussia, Wilhelm I, as German Emperor.

Since Ludwig, who nonetheless regretted Bavaria's loss of independence, refused to attend Wilhelm's 18 January proclamation as Emperor in the Palace of Versailles,[3] Ludwig's brother, Prince Otto, and his uncle Luitpold represented him in the Palace of Versailles.[4][5] Otto then criticized the celebration as ostentatious and heartless in a letter to his brother. In 1876, Luitpold was appointed Field Marshal.

Regency

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Prince Regent Luitpold celebrating his 90th birthday in 1911

On 10 June 1886, Luitpold's nephew King Ludwig II was declared mentally incompetent and Luitpold was named Regent. Luitpold's part is still controversial. Following Ludwig II's mysterious death a few days later, his brother Otto assumed the throne. However, Otto was likewise (or more so) mentally incapable of reigning; he had been under medical supervision since 1883. Accordingly, Luitpold continued to serve as regent. Prince Luitpold was even accused by some people of the murder of his nephew, but soon the decent and affable prince became one of Bavaria's most popular rulers. One of his first actions (on 1 August 1886) was to open several of the palaces of Ludwig II to the public.

Politically, Luitpold remained largely passive. His governments gradually moved away from the previous anti-Catholic Kulturkampf policies. This development culminated in 1912 when the appointment of the Centre Party politician Georg von Hertling as minister president; this also effectively brought about a parliamentarisation of the government, as Hertling's Centre Party was the largest group in the Landtag.

It had long been speculated that Ludwig and Otto's diagnoses of mental incapacity were pretexts to shunt them aside, given that they were rather cool toward Prussia while Luitpold was thought to be pro-Prussian. However, during Luitpold's regency, relations between Munich and Berlin remained cold as Bavarians resented Prussia's strategic dominance over the empire.

Luitpold continued to serve as regent until 1912, when he contracted bronchitis and died in Munich. He is buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche in Munich. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Prince Ludwig, who remained as regent for another year. In 1913, the constitution was amended to add a clause stating that if a regency for reasons of incapacity had lasted for at least 10 years with no prospect of the king being able to actively reign, the regent could assume the throne in his own right. Soon after this amendment was promulgated, Ludwig ended the regency, deposed Otto and assumed the throne as Ludwig III.

The Prinzregentenzeit ("prince's regent's time"), as the regency of Luitpold is often called, marked the gradual transfer of Bavarian interests behind those of the German empire. In connection with the unhappy end of the preceding rule of King Ludwig II, this break in the Bavarian monarchy looked even stronger. Finally, the constitutional amendment of 1913 brought the determining break in the continuity of the king's rule in the opinion of historians, particularly as this change had been granted by the Landtag as a House of Representatives and meant therefore indirectly the first step toward parliamentary rule in Bavaria. Today the connection of these two developments is regarded as a main cause for the unspectacular end of the Bavarian kingdom without opposition in the course of the November revolution of 1918. However the course of his 26-year regency Luitpold grew to overcome, by modesty, ability and popularity, the initial uneasiness of his subjects. These prince's regent's years were transfigured, finally – above all in the retrospect – to a golden age of Bavaria, even if one mourned the "fairy tale king" Ludwig II furthermore what happens in a folkloric-nostalgic manner till this day.[clarification needed]

Legacy

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Augsburg monument by the sculptor Franz Bernauer on top of the fountain Prinzregentenbrunnen.
 
Angel of Peace in the Prinzregentenstraße in Munich, erected as antipole to the Berlin Victory Column

Tutored as a child by Domenico Quaglio the Younger, Luitpold had a great feeling for the arts. Luitpold's years as regent were marked by tremendous artistic and cultural activity in Bavaria where they are known as the Prinzregentenjahre ("The Prince Regent Years") or the Prinzregentenzeit. Bavaria prospered under a liberal government and Munich became a cultural centre of Europe. Thomas Mann wrote about this period "Munich shone" (1902 Gladius Dei). Schwabing became an important artists' quarter in Munich.

There are numerous streets in Bavarian cities and towns called Prinzregentenstrasse or Luitpoldstrasse. Many institutions are named in Luitpold's honour including the Prinzregententheater in Munich and the Luitpoldarena and the Luitpoldhalle in Nürnberg. In 1891 Luitpold established the Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich. Prinzregententorte is a multi-layered cake with chocolate butter cream named in his honour. The vessel SMS Prinzregent Luitpold of the Imperial German Navy and the Luitpold Coast were named for Luitpold.

Luitpold's great passion next to the arts was hunting, and his legendary hunts took place throughout Bavaria.

Family

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The Prince Regent with his son Ludwig, his grandson Rupprecht and his great-grandson Luitpold in the park of Nymphenburg Palace

On 1 April 1844, in Florence, Luitpold married Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria, Princess of Tuscany, second daughter of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Luitpold and Auguste had four children:

Honours

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Greater Royal Coat of Arms of Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria

He received the following orders and decorations:[6]

Ancestry

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Luitpold | prince regent of Bavaria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  2. ^ Biographie, Deutsche. "Luitpold - Deutsche Biographie". www.deutsche-biographie.de (in German). Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  3. ^ Nohbauer, 1998, p. 37.
  4. ^ Dr. Theodor Toeche-Mittler: Die Kaiserproklamation in Versailles am 18. Januar 1871 mit einem Verzeichniß der Festtheilnehmer, Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, Berlin, 1896
  5. ^ H. Schnaebeli: Fotoaufnahmen der Kaiserproklamation in Versailles, Berlin, 1871
  6. ^ Hof- und - Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern (1879), "Landtag des Königreiches: Mitglieder der Kammer der Reichsräte". p. 136
  7. ^ a b Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Bayern (1873), "Königliche Orden", pp. 7, 12
  8. ^ Bayern (1867). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern: 1867. Landesamt. p. 94.
  9. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1862), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 32, 44
  10. ^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Herzogtums Braunschweig für das Jahr 1908. Braunschweig 1908. Meyer. p. 9
  11. ^ Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1843), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 6
  12. ^ Staat Hannover (1865). Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1865. Berenberg. p. 38, 79.
  13. ^ Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch: 1855. Waisenhaus. 1855. p. 12.
  14. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1879), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" pp. 10, 130
  15. ^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für das Jahr 1872/73, "Der Großherzogliche Haus-und Verdienst Orden" p. 31
  16. ^ "Königlich Preussische Ordensliste", Preussische Ordens-Liste (in German), 1, Berlin: 4, 935, 1886 – via hathitrust.org
  17. ^ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach Archived 30 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine (1900), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 16
  18. ^ Sachsen (1901). "Königlich Orden". Staatshandbuch für den Königreich Sachsen: 1901. Dresden: Heinrich. p. 4 – via hathitrust.org.
  19. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" p. 27
  20. ^ "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie (in German), 1905, pp. 51, 55, retrieved 24 June 2020
  21. ^ Albert I; Museum Dynasticum N° .21: 2009/ n° 2.
  22. ^ Jørgen Pedersen (2009). Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009 (in Danish). Syddansk Universitetsforlag. p. 463. ISBN 978-87-7674-434-2.
  23. ^ M. & B. Wattel (2009). Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers. Paris: Archives & Culture. p. 421. ISBN 978-2-35077-135-9.
  24. ^ Italia : Ministero dell'interno (1898). Calendario generale del Regno d'Italia. Unione tipografico-editrice. p. 54.
  25. ^ 刑部芳則 (2017). 明治時代の勲章外交儀礼 (PDF) (in Japanese). 明治聖徳記念学会紀要. p. 149.
  26. ^ Justus Perthes, Almanach de Gotha (1913) p. 14
  27. ^ "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III", Guóa Oficial de España (in Spanish), 1900, p. 172, retrieved 24 June 2020
  28. ^ Sveriges statskalender (PDF) (in Swedish), 1911, p. 509, retrieved 8 March 2021 – via gupea.ub.gu.se
  29. ^ Almanacco Toscano per l'anno 1855. Stamperia Granducale. 1855. p. 274.
  30. ^ Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 203
  31. ^ "No. 28474". The London Gazette. 10 March 1911. p. 2047.
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