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King of Bavaria

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This article is about the monarchs of the early modern Kingdom of Bavaria. For the medieval monarchs who bore the title, seeList of monarchs of Bavaria.
King ofBavaria
König von Bayern
Royal coat of arms
Ludwig III
Details
StyleHis Majesty
First monarchMaximilian I
Last monarchLudwig III
Formation1806
Abolition1918
AppointerHereditary
Pretender(s)Franz, Duke of Bavaria
TheCrown of Bavaria.

TheKing of Bavaria(German:König von Bayern) was a title held by the hereditaryWittelsbachrulers ofBavariain the state known as theKingdom of Bavariafrom 1805 until 1918, when the kingdom was abolished. It was the second time Bavaria was a kingdom, almost a thousand years after the short-livedCarolingiankingdom of Bavaria.

History[edit]

Under the terms of theTreaty of Pressburgconcluded 26 December 1805 betweenFrench EmperorNapoleonandHoly Roman EmperorFrancis II,severalprincipalitiesallied to Napoleon were elevated tokingdoms.One of the staunchest of these had been theprince-electorof Bavaria, Maximilian IV Joseph, and on 1 January 1806, he formally assumed the title KingMaximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.He was a member of the Wittelsbach branchPalatinate-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken.

Maximilian's successors resisted German nationalism, and Bavaria became the protector of smaller states whose leaders felt threatened byPrussiaorAustriain theGerman Confederation.Religious ties and theUpper Germanlanguage linked the state more to Austria until their defeat in theAustro-Prussian War.KingLudwig IIsigned an alliance with Prussia on 22 August 1866, effectively relinquishing Bavarian independence.

With the treaty of 23 November 1870 Bavaria was integrated into the newGerman Empire,but permitted a relatively large degree ofself-determination.The Kings of Bavaria maintained their titles, and maintained separate diplomatic andmilitarycorps. When the German Empire was abolished in November 1918 after the end ofWorld War I,the last king of Bavaria,Ludwig III,was deposed.

Kings of Bavaria[edit]

Ludwig III of BavariaOtto, King of BavariaLudwig II of BavariaMaximilian II of BavariaLudwig I of BavariaMaximilian I Joseph of Bavaria

The titleKing of Bavariais sometimes used in reference to Carolingian kings ruling over Bavaria. SeeList of monarchs of Bavariafor these.

Royal Bavaria[edit]

Name Portrait Title Reign start Reign end House Official title Note
Maximilian I Joseph Maximillian I Joseph Elector of the Palatinate
King of Bavaria 		1799 1825 Wittelsbach His Majesty Maximilian Joseph, King of Bavaria Son ofCount Palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken.
Distant cousin of his predecessor ElectorCharles Theodore;Count Palatine of Zweibrücken from 1795.

In the chaos of the wars of theFrench Revolution,the old order of theHoly Roman Empirecollapsed. In the course of these events, Bavaria became once again the ally of France, and Maximilian IV Joseph abandoned his Electoral title — as there would soon be no Emperor to elect — for the title of King of Bavaria, becoming Maximilian I on 1 January 1806.

Ludwig I Ludwig I King of Bavaria 1825 1848 Wittelsbach His Majesty Ludwig, King of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine. Son ofMaximilian I Joseph.

Abdicated in theRevolutions of 1848

Maximilian II Joseph Maximillian II Joseph King of Bavaria 1848 1864 Wittelsbach His Majesty Maximilian, King of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine. Son ofLudwig I
Ludwig II Ludwig II King of Bavaria 1864 1886 Wittelsbach His Majesty Ludwig, King of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine. Son ofMaximilian II Joseph

Ludwig II was called theMärchenkönig(fairy-tale king). He acceded to Bavaria becoming astateof theGerman Empirein 1871, he was declared insane in 1886.[1]

Otto I Otto King of Bavaria 1886 1913 Wittelsbach His Majesty Otto, King of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine. Son ofMaximilian II Joseph.

Otto was mentally ill throughout his reign, and his functions were carried out by the followingprince regents:

Luitpold Luitpold Prince Regent of Bavaria 1886 1912 Wittelsbach His Royal Highness Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine. Son ofLudwig I,Prince Regent of Bavaria for kings Ludwig II and Otto.
Ludwig III Ludwig III Prince Regent of Bavaria
King of Bavaria 		1913 1918 Wittelsbach His Majesty Ludwig, King of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine. Son ofPrince Regent Luitpoldand grandson ofLudwig I.

Prince Regent from 1912 until 1913, then King of Bavaria, he lost his throne in theGerman Revolutionat the end ofWorld War I.

Current heir[edit]

Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern(born 14 July 1933), styledHis Royal Highness The Duke of Bavaria,is head of theWittelsbachfamily, the former ruling family of the Kingdom of Bavaria.

The succession to the headship of the family is determined by Article 2 of Title 2 of the 1818 Constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria, which states, "The crown is hereditary among the male descendants of the royal house according to the law of primogeniture and the agnatic lineal succession."[2]The succession is further clarified by Title 5 of the Bavarian Royal Family Statute of 1819.[3]

In 1948 and 1949Crown Prince Rupprecht,with the agreement of the other members of the house, amended the house laws to allow the succession of the sons of princes who had married intocomital houses.[4]In 1999 Duke Franz, with the agreement of the other members of the house, amended the house laws further to allow the succession of the sons of any princes who married with the permission of the head of the house.

Franz has never married. Theheir presumptiveto the headship of theHouse of Wittelsbachis his brotherPrince Max, Duke in Bavaria.Because Max has five daughters but no sons, he is followed in the line of succession by his and Franz's first cousin (and second cousin in themale line)Prince Luitpold.[5]

The current line of succession to the headship of the family is:

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^King, Greg (1996),The Mad King: The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria.,Carol Publishing,ISBN1-55972-362-9
  2. ^Constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1818Archived2009-12-12 at theWayback Machine
  3. ^Hermann Schulze: die Hausgesetze der regierenden deutschen Fürstenhäuser. 1. Bd. Jena, 1862. pp. 337-47. Cited inBavarian Royal Family Statute, 1819
  4. ^Dieter J. Weiss,Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern (1869-1955): Eine politische Biografie(Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, 2007): 346.
  5. ^Genealogie des Hauses Wittelsbach.München: Verwaltung des Herzogs von Bayern, 2000.
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