‘Mad’ King Ludwig II of Bavaria was responsible for building some of the most impressive castles and palaces in all of Europe. Known as the “Fairytale King”, his Herrenchiemsee, Linderhof, and especially Neuschwanstein attract millions of visitors a year. His castles represent an operatic fantasy world built to escape from reality, which was ultimately his downfall. Ludwig took refuge in his fantasies, got into mounting debt, and was eventually ruled insane. “I want to remain an eternal mystery to myself and others,, Ludwig once said.
The Fairytale King’s fate is also surrounded in mystery. Was ‘Mad’ King Ludwig actually mad – or just merely an eccentric introvert? Did he in fact commit suicide by drowning at only 40, or was he murdered by royal ministers? Why was he so obsessed with Medieval fantasy and fairytales?
The heir to the throne of the Bavarian Crown was born 25 August 1845. His parents were Prince Maximilian II of Bavaria and Crown Princess Marie of Prussia. 101 cannon shots announced the good news of his birth to the city of Munich. Princess Marie had suffered several miscarriage years earlier.
King Maximilian and Princess Marie did not love each other, nor their children.
Ludwig and his younger brother Otto were brought up with a strict emphasis on royal duty. Ludwig grew up an introverted loner, left to live within his own imagination. He grew up at Hohenschwangau Castle in southern Bavaria – a mock-Medieval castle built by his father, complete with crenelated towers. It gave birth to the boy’s obsession with Medieval legends and fairytale.
“Ludwig enjoyed dressing up … took pleasure in play acting, loved pictures … and liked making presents of his property, money and other possessions,” said his mother.
Ludwig became king quite suddenly in 1865 when he was just 18. His father died unexpectedly of sepsis and the shocked teenager was thrust upon the throne as King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He had received very little preparation or knowledge of governing by his father or the royal court.
Ludwig immediately faced a variety of foreign and domestic challenges. Bavaria’s sovereignty was in question, the Industrial Revolution was gaining momentum, and the population was growing. Bavaria was a large German state of around five million and a constitutional monarchy. Ludwig initially embraced the business of government. However, it quickly became apparent he was not up to the task.
“I became king much too early. I had not learned enough. Suddenly I was snatched away and set on the throne. Well, I am still trying to learn.” – King Ludwig II
Just a year later in 1866, Ludwig II suffered his greatest, defeat. The state of Prussia conquered both Bavaria and Austria in “The German War.” The loss meant Bavaria was reduced from an independent nation to an annex of Prussia, within the new “German Nation State.” From then on, the king was basically a vassal of his Prussian uncle. Ludwig wanted to preserve Bavarian independence, but was now basically powerless.
Despite the loss, the Bavarian people remained sympathetic to the inexperienced King Ludwig. His subjects saw him as young, handsome, generous, and initially a very visible king to his subjects.
In 1871, the new German Empire was proclaimed with Prussian King Wilhelm as Emperor. For Ludwig, his failure to maintain Bavarian sovereignty was traumatic, causing him to a gradually withdraw from public view. Losing Bavaria would haunt Ludwig for the rest of his life. It caused him to retreat specifically into the Medieval imagination of his youth.
Ludwig yearned to be an omnipotent king of yore, whose rule couldn’t be challenged.
As for his personal life, while a teen, Ludwig had a relationship with his aide de camp, Prince Paul of Thurn and Taxis. They rode together, read poetry together, and staged scenes from Wagner operas. In 1867, Ludwig became formally engaged to Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria, his 19-year-old cousin; and Prince Paul was married off.
The twenty-year-old king then began a secret affair with a riding master in his royal stables, Richard Hornig, whom he made his private secretary. Much to the royal family’s dismay, Ludwig repeatedly postponed his wedding date, then ultimately cancelled the engagement with Sophie. The king would never marry, have an heir, or have any known female mistresses.
Ludwig also became obsessed with the works of German composer Richard Wagner. From his youth, he was enthralled by Wagner operas and their fantastical German mythology. One of Ludwig’s first actions when he became king was to summon Wagner to his court in Bavaria. The king wanted to realize his dream of a grand Bavarian Opera Festival.
His summoning of Wagner in fact rescued the composer from numerous angry creditors, as the king paid off all his debts. “He is unfortunately so beautiful and wise, soulful and lordly, that I fear his life must fade away like a divine dream in this base world!” – Richard Wagner.
A tense love-hate, though collaborative relationship developed between them. Ludwig organized huge musical festivals, and built concert halls in Munich to honor Wagner’s work. Wagner in turn acted as Ludwig’s muse, feeding both his fertile imagination and the inspiration for his new palace and castle projects.
Munich became the music capital of Europe with the premieres of “Tristan und Isolde” in 1865, “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) in 1868, “Das Rheingold” (The Rhinegold) in 1869, and “Die Walküre” (The Valkyrie) in 1870. Without Ludwig, Wagner would never have achieved all his works and his greater fame.
Ludwig’s passion with Wagner’s works quickly becomes a dangerous obsession however. He began to lose himself in the Medieval fantasy worlds depicted in Wagner’s operatic myths. He started dressing daily as opera characters from Wagner’s world. From 1875 on, the king began to live at night and sleep primarily during the day.
Ludwig’s obsession reached its ill-fated peak however in architecture.
Having grown up in Hohenschwangau, the mock-castle built by his father, Ludwig also become obsessed with building extravagant palaces of his own, in order to live out his fantasy world. They would be grand fortresses of retreat where he could completely hide, nearly alone from the outside world.
His new Linderhof Palace was built as a refuge for the reclusive king to hide away in the countryside. Completed in 1878, this small palace was designed for one person – Ludwig II. It had only ten rooms, four for servants. The dining table had only enough space for one person – himself. Linderhof also had it own grotto – designed to host small performances of Wagner operas – to an audience of one.
The king then attempted to re-create the grandeur of France’s Versailles. He had the Herrenchiemsee Palace built on a large island in Bavaria’s Lake Chiemsee. Completed in 1885, it was a another place to assure the eccentric King’s privacy. He designed the palace to emulate the sharp rectangular lines of Versailles. Elaborate French paintings were hung in all its rooms.
Of course, Ludwig’s most famous building project – one recognizable around the world – was Schloss Neuschwanstein. His “New Castle” was based on those of the Middle Ages and built in the foothills of the Alps. He designed it as both a mountain refuge and a theatre for Wagner operas. Ludwig broke ground in 1869 and moved into the unfinished castle in 1884.
Despite its towering grandeur, Neuschwanstein did not have space for the royal court, only the King’s private residence, a performance Hall of Singers, the Throne Room, and servants’ quarters. The palace served King Ludwig II as a live-in theatrical setting. It was dedicated, with numerous operatic murals, to the works of Richard Wagner, who died in 1883 (without ever visiting the castle).
Ludwig’s obsession with a holy kingdom was the reason he built, and built again, places he could imagine himself as a real-life Medieval king. His fantasy world was reinforced by private performances in the castle of Wagner’s operas, performed for the king alone. Thus Ludwig spent more and more time isolated in the mountains, and less time governing in Munich.
The fantasy world the King built for himself was never compatible with his duties as king.
The new castles and palaces were also beyond the fiscal means of the king. He was wasting away huge amounts of time and money. Ludwig’s castle building did not bankrupt Bavaria though. By 1885, he’d accrued a personal debt of 14 million marks – all held against his own family’s name. Foreign banks threatened to seize his properties. Various tradesmen threatened to sue.
He asked foreign governments for loans as he was unable to rein in his extreme spending. He had also become indifferent to state business. As a result, his government’s leaders began making plots. Ludwig II couldn’t be removed from his throne by constitutional means. But he could be forcibly withdrawn if it was decided he was unfit to rule.
Ludwig no longer received his ministers or secretaries. He avoided the general public, neglecting what was expected of a king. Instead, his life’s purpose became his private performances of Wagner and his 3 elaborate building projects. Ludwig refused to accept the consequences of his spending – the suspension of construction and strict budget management.
As you can imagine, the king’s unusual lifestyle fueled rumors in Bavaria and throughout Europe. Newspapers at home and abroad were openly speculating about the king’s huge debts and even whispering about his sexuality without a wife or heir. Government leaders knew the easiest way to depose of the eccentric king was for him to be declared insane. Senior Minister Johann von Lutz realized that intervention was necessary to save the monarchy and the royal family.
Either Ludwig must willingly abdicate … or be forcibly deposed.
In March, Minister Lutz met with Dr. Bernhard von Gudden, Director of the Upper Bavarian Lunatic Asylum and the physician in charge of Prince Otto. The doctor saw parallels between brother Otto and King Ludwig. He declared the king was “genuinely insane” and incapable of governing. His judgement was accepted by royal ministers and the royal family.
The King’s sudden deposition was proclaimed to the public on 10 June 1886. Ludwig was utterly shocked and forced to resign from the throne under duress. Lutz then ordered him to vacate his beloved Neuschwanstein Castle, nearly but not yet completed at the time.
King Ludwig was instead interned in the small Berg Castle in upper Bavaria. The very next day, he died in mysterious circumstances, drowned in nearby Lake Starnberg, together with the psychiatrist who had certified him as insane! What exactly had happened?
Ludwig arrived at Berg Castle on 12 June 1886, accompanied by the “Fangkommission” (Interception Committee). The royal apartment on the second floor was prepared by removing doorknobs, adding peepholes, and closing the shutters. A “guardian” was always supposed to be near the king – a stipulation Ludwig found humiliating. It was important to Dr. Gudden that the king not be treated like a mental patient.
Dr. Gudden’s first aim was to reintegrate the king into a regular daily routine. Conversations and walks with others were to be added. It should be noted the psychiatrists did not consider Ludwig to be incurably ill. Ludwig II spent June 13th quietly in Berg Castle. He seemed composed and questioned everyone he spoke to in-depth. After dinner, at about 6:45 pm, he set out with Dr. Gudden for a walk by the lake, not accompanied by the guardian.
Both their bodies were found floating in the waters of the lake that night.
It is possible the king ran into the lake, intending to committing suicide. Gudden also died in the lake, perhaps after a tussle with the King. Afterwards, Ludwig drowned or suffered a heart attack in the cold lake water.
The king’s body was taken to Munich and autopsied at the Residence on 15 June. In addition to the pathologist, representatives of the State Ministry and Foreign Affairs were present. At the autopsy, “no injuries were perceptible anywhere on the body, neck or face.” There was also no evidence of “gunshot, head impact or stab wounds”. Drowning could not be proven beyond doubt as the cause of death, so a heart attack was also deemed possible.
The Bavarian constitution provided for a regency in the event that the king was unable to hold office. Ludwig’s younger brother Otto had also been considered mentally ill since 1876. So only Prince Luitpold, King Ludwig’s uncle, would assume the regency.
Ludwig was laid out in the Residence’s Court Chapel wearing the uniform of the Grand Master of the Wittelsbach Royal Order of Saint Hubertus. A bouquet of jasmine was in his right hand, picked by his cousin, Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The general public appeared in huge crowds; viewing from the galleries of the court chapel. The funeral procession went through Munich to allow as many as possible to express their sympathy. The coffin was lowered into the crypt of St. Michaels Church, where Ludwig II rests to this day.
Schloss Neuschwanstein was opened to paying visitors by the new Regent and completed, though with a slightly simpler interior and exterior, by 1892.
As to the king’s death, one theory was that Ludwig had killed his psychiatrist (there were signs of a struggle), and Ludwig had then either committed suicide, or drowned accidentally after the struggle in the lake. However, Ludwig had never before displayed violent tendencies. He had discussed suicide with his psychiatrist, but did not appear inclined to take his own life. He had also been a strong swimmer from an early age. So it’s unlikely he would have drowned.
Of course, another theory is that the king was murdered and never truly insane. Siegfried Wichmann, a modern art-historian, claims to have discovered an image of Ludwig’s body, painted at Berg just after his death. It shows blood dripping from the side of his mouth, which suggests he died of some violent trauma: not drowning. Perhaps someone from the Committee shot him?
Just 50 years ago, Countess Josephine von Wrba-Kaunitz, a distant relative of the Royal family, presented a grey-jacket with a bullet-hole during a tea-party, which she claimed to be King Ludwig II’s – supposed proof of murder! This crucial piece of evidence was lost however in a house fire a few years later. So, unless his corpse is exhumed and examined – unlikely to ever be allowed – we shall never know ‘Mad’ King Ludwig’s true cause of death.
Today, the odd Ludwig would most likely have been diagnosed with ASD (autism spectrum disorder). One can say that the king attempted to live the life of solitude and fantasy in which he was most comfortable in. And unlike the average person, he had the means to do so. Whether that is the definition of insanity or not, is a question left for interpretation.