Ludwig III (Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfred; 7 January 1845 – 18 October 1921) was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918. Initially, he served in the Bavarian military as a lieutenant and went on to hold the rank of Oberleutnant during the Austro-Prussian War. He entered politics at the age of 18, as a member of the Bavarian parliament, and was a keen participant, supporting electoral reforms. Later in life, he served as regent and de facto head of state from 1912 to 1913, ruling for his incapacitated cousin, Otto. After the Bavarian parliament passed a law allowing him to do so, Ludwig deposed Otto and assumed the throne for himself. He led Bavaria during World War I. His short reign was seen as championing conservative causes and he was influenced by the Catholic encyclical Rerum novarum.
After the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the German Empire was dissolved and the Weimar Republic was created. As a result of this revolution, the Bavarian throne was abolished along with the other monarchies of the German states, ending the House of Wittelsbach's 738-year reign over Bavaria. Fearing that he might be a victim of an assassination, Ludwig fled to Hungary, Liechtenstein and then Switzerland. He returned to Bavaria in 1920 and lived at Wildenwart Castle. He died shortly after, when he was staying at Nádasdy Mansion in Sárvár.
Early life
Ludwig was born in Munich, the eldest son of Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria and of his wife, Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria (daughter of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany). He was a descendant of both Louis XIV of France and William the Conqueror. Hailing from Florence, Auguste always spoke in Italian to her four children. Ludwig was named after his grandfather, King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Ludwig spent his first years living in the Electoral rooms of the Munich Residenz and in the Wittelsbacher Palais. From 1852 to 1863, he was tutored by Ferdinand von Malaisé. When he was ten years old, the family moved to the Leuchtenberg Palace.
In 1861 at the age of sixteen, Ludwig began his military career when his uncle, King Maximilian II of Bavaria, gave him a commission as a lieutenant in the 6th Jägerbattalion. A year later, he entered LMU Munich, where he studied law and economics. When he was eighteen, he automatically became a member of the Senate of the Bavarian Legislature as a prince of the royal house.
In 1866, Bavaria was allied with the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Prussian War. Ludwig held the rank of Oberleutnant. He was wounded at the Battle of Helmstadt, taking a bullet in his thigh. The incident contributed to the fact that he was rather averse to the military. He received the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Bavarian Military Merit Order.
Marriage and children
In June 1867, Ludwig visited Vienna to attend the funeral of his cousin, Archduchess Mathilda of Austria (daughter of his father's sister Princess Hildegard of Bavaria). While there, Ludwig met Mathilde's 18-year-old step-cousin Maria Theresia, Archduchess of Austria-Este, the only daughter of the late Archduke Ferdinand Karl Viktor of Austria-Este (1821–1849) and Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (1831–1903), and they married on 20 February 1868 at St. Augustine's Church in Vienna.
Until 1862, Ludwig's uncle had reigned as King Otto I of Greece. Although Otto had been deposed, Ludwig was still in line of succession to the Greek throne. Had he ever succeeded, this would have required that he renounce his Roman Catholic faith and become Greek Orthodox. Maria Theresa's uncle, Francis V, Duke of Modena, was a staunch Roman Catholic. He required that as part of the marriage agreement Ludwig renounce his rights to the throne of Greece, and so ensure that his children would be raised Roman Catholic. In addition, the 1843 Greek Constitution forbade the Greek sovereign to be simultaneously ruler of another country. Consequently, Ludwig's younger brother Leopold technically succeeded upon their father's death to the rights of the deposed Otto I, King of Greece. However, after Otto's deposition none of the Wittelsbach family ever pursued a claim.
By his marriage, Ludwig became a wealthy man. Maria Theresa had inherited large properties from her father. She owned the estate of Sárvár in Hungary and the estate of Eiwanowitz in Moravia (now Ivanovice na Hané in the Czech Republic). The income from these estates enabled Ludwig to purchase an estate at Leutstetten in Bavaria. Over the years, Ludwig expanded the Leutstetten estate until it became one of the largest and most profitable in Bavaria. Ludwig was sometimes derided as Millibauer (dairy farmer) due to his interest in agriculture and farming.
Although they maintained a residence in Munich at the Leuchtenberg Palace, Ludwig and Maria Theresa lived mostly at Leutstetten. They had a happy and devoted marriage which resulted in thirteen children:
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria (18 May 1869 – 2 August 1955), married Duchess Marie Gabriele in Bavaria on 10 August 1900. They had four children. He remarried Princess Antonia of Luxembourg on 7 April 1921. They had six children. Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria (17 October 1870 – 4 January 1958) married Prince Wilhelm of Hohenzollern on 20 January 1915. Maria Ludwiga, Princess of Bavaria (6 July 1872 – 10 June 1954) married Prince Ferdinand Pius of Bourbon-Two Sicilies on 31 May 1897. They had six children, including Princess Urraca of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Karl, Prince of Bavaria (1 April 1874 – 9 May 1927) Franz, Prince of Bavaria (10 October 1875 – 25 January 1957) married Princess Isabella Antonie of Croÿ on 12 July 1912 Princess Mathilde of Bavaria (17 August 1877 – 6 August 1906) married Prince Ludwig of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 1 May 1900. They had two children. Prince Wolfgang Maria Leopold of Bavaria (2 July 1879 – 31 January 1895) Princess Hildegard of Bavaria (5 March 1881 – 2 February 1948) Princess Notburga of Bavaria (19 March 1883 – 24 March 1883) Princess Wiltrud of Bavaria (10 November 1884 – 28 March 1975), married Wilhelm, Duke of Urach on 26 November 1924. Princess Helmtrud of Bavaria (22 March 1886 – 23 June 1977) Princess Dietlinde of Bavaria (2 January 1888 – 15 February 1889) Princess Gundelinde of Bavaria (26 August 1891 – 16 August 1983), married Count Johann Georg of Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos on 23 February 1919. They had two children. Count Johann Kaspar of Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos (19 December 1919 – 14 February 1940) Countess Maria Theresia of Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos (23 March 1922 – 14 September 2003), married Ludwig, Count von und zu Arco-Zinneberg on 25 January 1940. They had one son. She remarried to Ludwig's brother, Ulrich Philipp Count von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, on 26 September 1943. They had three sons, two of whom survived to adulthood. Rupprecht-Maximilian Count von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (14 January 1941 – 20 January 2026) married Katharina, Countess Henckel von Donnersmarck on 11 July 1968. They had two children. Alois Maximilian Count von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (5 June 1970) Isabella-Gabriela Countess von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (5 December 1973) Ludwig Count von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (1944–1944) Riprand Count von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (25 July 1955 – 24 August 2021) married Archduchess Maria Beatrice of Austria on 31 March 1980. They had six daughters. Countess Anna Theresa von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (born 1981) married Colin McKenzie on 29 September 2018. Countess Margherita von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (born 1983) married Charles Douglas Green on 19 March 2022. Countess Olympia von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (born 1988) married Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon on 17 October 2019. Countess Maximiliana von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (born 1990) married Byron Houdayer on 17 May 2023. Countess Marie Gabrielle von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (born 1992) Countess Giorgiana von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (born 1997)
On the death of her uncle Francis in 1875, Maria Theresa inherited his Jacobite claim to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland, and is called either Queen Mary IV and III or Queen Mary III by Jacobites.
Service and politics
Throughout his life, Ludwig took a great interest in agriculture. From 1868, he was the Honorary President of the Central Committee of the Bavarian Agricultural Society. In 1875, he bought Leutstetten Castle and made it a model farm. He was also very interested in technology, particularly water power. In 1891 at his initiation, the Bavarian Canal Society was established. In 1896 Prince Ludwig was appointed honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.
As a prince of the royal house he was automatically a member of the Senate of the Bavarian legislature; there he was a great supporter of the direct right to vote. Since 23 June 1863 already, Ludwig had been a member of the Chamber of the Reichsräte. In 1870 he voted as a member of the Bundesrat for the acceptance of the November treaties to join the North German Confederation. In 1871 he ran unsuccessfully for the first Reichstag elections as a candidate of the Bavarian Patriot Party. In 1906 he supported the Bavarian electoral reform, which the SPD founder August Bebel praised: "The German people, if the Kaiser were to be chosen from one of the German princes, would presumably elect Wittelsbach Ludwig and not Prussia's Wilhelm."
Regent of Bavaria
On 12 December 1912, Ludwig's father Luitpold died. Luitpold had been an active participant in the deposition of his nephew, Ludwig II, and had also acted as prince regent for his other nephew, King Otto. Although Otto had nominally been king since 1886, he had been under medical supervision since 1883 and it had long been understood that he would never be mentally capable of actively reigning. Ludwig III immediately succeeded his father as regent.
Almost immediately, certain elements in the press and other groups in society called for Ludwig to take the throne himself. The Bavarian Legislature was not, however, currently in session, and did not meet until 29 September 1913. On 4 November 1913, the legislature amended the constitution of Bavaria to include a clause specifying that if a regency for reasons of incapacity had lasted for ten years with no prospect of the king ever being able to reign, the regent could proclaim the end of the regency and assume the crown himself, with such action to be ratified by the legislature. The amendment received broad party support in the Lower Chamber where it was carried by a vote of 122 in favour, and 27 against. In the Senate there were only six votes against the amendment. The next day, 5 November 1913, Ludwig proclaimed the end of the regency, deposed his cousin and proclaimed his own reign as Ludwig III. The legislature duly ratified this action, and Ludwig took his oath on 8 November.
The constitutional amendment of 1913 brought a 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. Historians believe this marked a definitive step toward a modern constitutional monarchy with the king as a figurehead. Bavaria had already taken a step toward full parliamentary government a year earlier, when Georg von Hertling headed the first government that depended on a majority in the legislature.
King of Bavaria
Ludwig's short reign was conservative and influenced by the Catholic encyclical Rerum novarum. Prime Minister Georg von Hertling, appointed by Luitpold in 1912, remained in office. Also as King Ludwig lived in the Wittelsbacher Palais rather than in the Munich Residenz.