Clara Tschudi - Ludwig the Second, King of Bavaria

LUDWIG THE SECOND

KING OF BAVARIA

BY
CLARA TSCHUDI
AUTHOR OF MARIE ANTOINETTE, EUGNIE, EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH, MARIA SOPHIA, QUEEN OF NAPLES, ETC. ETC.
TRANSLATED FROM THE NORWEGIAN
BY
ETHEL HARRIET HEARN

WITH COLOURED PORTRAIT
London
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. LIM.
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
1908

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, Maximilian Joseph, was the Crown Prince. The latter had wedded, in 1842, the beautiful Princess Marie of Prussia, who was only sixteen years of age at the time of her marriage, her husband being twenty years her senior.

To all appearance the marriage was a very happy one. Maximilian was an intelligent and right-thinking man, devoted to public duty, but he had indifferent health, and, like the greater number of his race, was the possessor of a sensitive nervous system. For some years it appeared as if the marriage would be childless. At the beginning of the year 1845, however, the people of Bavaria were informed that the Crown Princess was enceinte, and on the 25th of August, on the birthday of the reigning King, a hundred and one guns proclaimed the birth of a prince at the chteau of Nymphenburg.

As a matter of fact, the princely infant had seen the light two days earlier, but the event had been kept a secret in order to give Ludwig I. a pleasant surprise, the King having expressed a wish that a possible hereditary prince might come into the world on that day. The child was named after him, and he held it himself at the font.

The old King at that time was at the height of his popularity. Soon, however, a turning-point set in: the dancer Lola Montez invaded the lovesick Monarchs life, causing a violent insurrection in the Bavarian capital. Then came the democratic rising of 1848, general all over Europe, which threw fuel on the fire. Ludwig was compelled to abdicate, and was succeeded by his son, Maximilian Joseph, who ascended the throne under the title of Maximilian II.

Shortly after these political disturbances took place the young Queen was brought to bed of another son, who was named Otto. The effect on her of the alarm and excitement caused by the aforesaid events, was such that he came into the world three months too early. The physicians declared that it was impossible for the child to live, but they proved to be mistaken in their opinion.

Both the Crown Prince and his brother were unusually good-looking, and it was a brilliant sight when the popular and beautiful Queen walked about the streets of Munich, with her handsome boys beside her. Maternal joy and pride shone from her eyes, and the glance of the people was directed with genuine admiration on her and her children. Otto was the one who most resembled his mother. Being, moreover, lighthearted and accessible, he was also the one to whom the prize of beauty was awarded by popular opinion. Ludwigs beauty was of a more uncommon and intellectual type, a noteworthy feature of his face being the large, brilliant, and dark-blue eye. The boys were always dressed each in his particular colour, which the Queen herself had chosen. Otto in red, and Ludwig in bluethe national colours of Bavaria. Not only were Ludwigs clothes blue in tint, but also, as far as was possible, his various other small possessions and necessities; such, for instance, as the binding of his books, his drawing portfolios, and his volumes of music. This hue always continued to be his favourite colour.

Possessed of good sense in many ways, Ludwigs parents seem to have been deficient in their insight into the difficult matter of bringing up their eldest son. The father was too strict, and made demands on the Crown Prince with which his abilities and strength did not allow of his complying. In season and out of season he reminded him that some time or other he would be a king. He was thoughtlessly punished whether he deserved it or whether his delinquencies were of so insignificant a nature as to demand a certain indulgence. Ludwig was not allowed to be a child. All his toys were early taken from him. He had, for instance, a tortoise of which he was particularly fond, but it was not long before this too was removed by the Kings especial order. The Queen made no attempt independently to combat this unnatural bringing up; nor does she or the King seem to have been alive to the fact that the peculiarities of the Crown Princes character required handling with caution.

He was simultaneously the object in other quarters of a directly opposite and still more pernicious treatment. His nurse Liesi adored and spoiled him. When he became a little older he was given a French governess, who seems to have had a positively unfortunate influence upon him. Her great admiration was the French Roi Soleil, Louis XIV., and she made no secret of forming her pupil upon this model. Well-known utterances of the Grand Monarque, such as Ltat cest moi!Tel est notre bon plaisir, and the like, were held up to the royal pupil as models of parlance which ought to be copied; while at the same time the governess gave expression in her looks and words to the subservience which she considered becoming for a subject to show to a future monarch. She never asked if he had been diligent and good. The Crown Prince is always the first, she repeated invariably. A teacher of the French language, who succeeded this lady, acted and comported himself in a similar spirit, and contributed further to pervert the childish mind. As an example of his method of education may be mentioned the fact that le trs gracieux prince royal, among other things, was allowed to roll his teacher on the floor like a barrel.