Prince Leopold of Bavaria (b. 1943)

Prince Leopold (Poldi) of Bavaria (German: Leopold Rupprecht Ludwig Ferdinand Adalbert Friedrich Maria et omnes sancti Prinz von Bayern) (born 21 June 1943) is a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach and a former champion race car driver. He descends from King Ludwig I of Bavaria in direct line and is a distant relative to the current head of the House of Wittelsbach, Franz, Duke of Bavaria and his brother, Maximilian, Duke in Bavaria. He also descends from Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth and from King George II of Great Britain, and is therefore a distant cousin of Elizabeth II. As a Roman Catholic he is excluded from the line for the British throne by the Act of Settlement 1701.

Leopold (aka "Poldi") was born on Schloss Umkirch near Freiburg im Breisgau in Baden-Württemberg. He is the eldest son of Prince Konstantin of Bavaria and his first wife Princess Maria Adelgunde of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Since his parents separated soon after he was born, Leopold was raised by his grandparents Prince Friedrich von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Princess Margarete Karola of Saxony. He grew up on Schloss Umkirch together with his uncle Prince Ferfried (aka "Foffie") who is only two months his senior. It was there the Prince developed his love for cars and racing.

On 21 October 1977 Prince Leopold married Ursula (Uschi) Möhlenkamp, the daughter of Wilhelm (Willi) Möhlenkamp and Ingeborg Brauckmann. The civil ceremony took place at Berg on Lake Starnberg in Bavaria. The religious ceremony followed a month later, on 19 November 1977 in Aufkirchen, Bavaria. Initially the union was considered morganatic, but on 3 March 1999 the marriage was decreed to be conditionally dynastic in accordance with the Bavarian house laws. Since his son Manuel married dynastically, he is kept in line of succession. The couple have four children:

• Prince Manuel Maria Alexander Leopold Jörg of Bavaria (b. out of wedlock in 1972). Married Princess Anna of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (b. 1978) in 2005. They have three children:
  • Prince Leopold Maria Bengt Karl Manuel of Bavaria (b. 2007)
  • Princess Alva Manuelle Maria Petra Yvonne of Bavaria (b. 2010)
  • Prince Gabriel of Bavaria (b. 2015)
• Princess Maria del Pilar Birgitta Adelgunde Charlotte of Bavaria (b. 1978)
• Princess Maria Felipa Karin Marion Gabriele of Bavaria (b. 1981), married Christian Alexander Dienst (b. 1978) in 2012. They have two sons:
  • August Maria Jürgen Leopold Dienst (b. 2013)
  • Ferdinand Maria Konstantin Joachim Dienst (b. 2014)
• Prince Konstantin Eugen Alexander Max-Emanuel Maria Ludwig Ferdinand Leopold of Bavaria (b. 1986)

The Prince resides in a villa on the Lake Starnberg south of the Bavarian capital, Munich and is often seen in the company of the current Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf whom he has known since his teens. He is a godfather of King Carl Gustaf's only son, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden.

Prince Leopold is also involved with charitable causes helping disabled children, such as the Special Olympics and organizations promoting the use of animal-assisted therapy. This is in part, because his oldest daughter Princess Pilar has a form of autism, which she developed as a baby after she was given the wrong anesthetic during a heart surgery.

Prince Leopold started his career with rallying and in 1969 moved to touring car racing winning the North American Championships with Porsche in 1972. In 1984 he also took part in the legendary sports car endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Walter Brun and Bob Akin, finishing fourth. In 1986, Leopold became a factory driver for the Munich based car manufacturer BMW and although he retired from competitive racing in 1998, he remains involved with the BMW racing team as an adviser.

As well as competing in Europe and America, Prince Leopold competed in Australia also with a drive the 1984 James Hardie 1000 driving a Group A BMW 635 CSi for Frank Gardner's factory backed JPS Team BMW, partnering 1967 Formula One World Champion Denny Hulme. In Australian touring car racing Group A was only a minor class introduced for the endurance races in 1984 before taking over as top class in 1985. After a troubled week which included losing a day after the Prince crashed the BMW at the top of The Mountain due to a lost front wheel, the pair finished the race in 15th place and 2nd in class, 4 laps behind the class winning TWR Rover Vitesse and 15 laps behind the race winning Holden Dealer Team Commodore. von Bayern (and Hulme) both had a new experience while racing at Bathurst in 1984. Their BMW was equipped with a racecam unit fitted in place of the left front headlight and both drivers were able to talk to the Channel 7 television commentary team while they were driving with the Prince saying at one point that "The race is very much fun for me".

Complete World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	DC	Points
1971	International Martini Racing Team	Porsche 908/02	BUE	DAY	SEB	BRA	MNZ	SPA	TAR	NUR DNS	LMS	WAT	ZEL					NC	0
1972	Tony Fischhaber	Porsche 911 S	BUE	DAY	SEB	BRA	MNZ	SPA	TAR	NUR 14	LMS	ZEL	WAT					NC	0
1973	Tony Fischhaber	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MNZ	SPA	TAR	NUR 14	LMS	ZEL	WAT						NC	0
1977	Jörg Obermoser	TOJ SC302 Ford	DIJ	VAL	MNZ	PER	EST	PAU Ret	IMO	SAL								NC	0
1981	Helmut Marko	BMW M1	DAY	SEB	MUG	MNZ	RIV	SIL	NUR	LMS Ret	PUR	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	RAM	BRA	NC	0
1983	Brun Motorsport Joest Racing	BMW M1 Porsche 936	MNZ	SIL	NUR Ret	LMS Ret	SPA	FJI	KYA 7									67th	4
1984	Brun Motorsport GmbH Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 956B	MNZ	SIL	LMS 4	NUR 9	BRA 8	MOS	SPA	IMO 4	FJI	KYA 7	SAN					25th	25
1985	Brun Motorsport GmbH	Porsche 956B Porsche 962C	MUG DNS	MNZ	SIL	LMS Ret	HOC	MOS	BRA	NUR	SPA	BRA	FJI	SHA				NC	0

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Schwaben Motorsport	BMW M3	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR Ret	SPA	BNO	SIL Ret	BAT	CLD Ret	WEL ovr:12 cls:5	FJI	NC	0

† Not registered for series & points

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1981	Helmut Marko RSM	Christian Danner Peter Oberndofer	BMW M1	GT	49	DNF	DNF
1983	Brun Motorsport Angelo Pallavicini	Angelo Pallavicini Jens Winther	BMW M1	B	160	DNF	DNF
1984	Brun Motorsport GmbH	Walter Brun Bob Akin	Porsche 956B	C1	340	4th	4th
1985	Brun Motorsport GmbH	Walter Brun Joël Gouhier Didier Theys	Porsche 962C	C1	304	DNF (DND)	DNF (DND)

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1984	JPS Team BMW	Denny Hulme	BMW 635 CSi	Group A	148	15th	2nd