Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria (German: Prinzregent Luitpold Karl Joseph Wilhelm Ludwig von Bayern) (12 March 1821—12 December 1912), was the regent and de facto ruler of Bavaria from 1886 to 1912, due to the incapacity of his nephews, Ludwig II and Otto.
Luitpold was born in Würzburg, the third son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and of his wife Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
Luitpold was the younger brother of King Maximilian II of Bavaria and of King Otto of Greece. In addition to being in line to the throne of Bavaria, Luitpold was also heir presumptive to the throne of Greece since his brother Otto had no children. However, the Greek law of succession required that Otto's heir convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church in order to become king; Luitpold was not willing to do this. Otto was deposed in 1862 and replaced by a Danish prince who became King George I of Greece. Otto died in 1867, leaving Luitpold and his descendants as representatives of Otto's claim; however, Luitpold never pursued this.
On June 10, 1886, Luitpold's nephew King Ludwig II was declared mentally incompetent and Luitpold was named Regent. Following Ludwig II's mysterious death a few days later, Luitpold continued to serve as regent for the new king, Otto, Ludwig's insane brother. First Luitpold was even accused by some people to be the murderer of his nephew, but later the decent and affable prince became one of Bavaria's most popular rulers. One of his first actions (on August 1, 1886) was to open several of the palaces of Ludwig II to the public.
Luitpold's years as regent were marked by tremendous artistic and cultural activity in Bavaria where they are known as the Prinzregentenjahre 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).
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.
Luitpold continued to serve as regent until his death of bronchitis in 1912 in Munich, when he was succeeded by his eldest son, Ludwig. He is buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche in Munich.
[edit] Family
On April 15, 1844, in Florence, Luitpold married Archduchess Auguste of Austria, second daughter of Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany. Luitpold and Auguste had four children:
- Ludwig III, King of Bavaria (1845-1921).
- Leopold Maximilian Joseph Maria Arnulf, Prince of Bavaria (1846-1930).
- Therese Charlotte Marianne Auguste, Princess of Bavaria (1850-1925)
- Franz Joseph Arnulf Adalbert Maria, Prince of Bavaria (1852-1907). Married Princess Therese of Liechtenstein and had a son, Heinrich Luitpold (1884-1916), killed in action during World War I.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by — |
Regent of Bavaria 1886-1912 |
Succeeded by Prince Ludwig |
