Prince Ludwig of Bavaria

Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (22 June 1913 – 17 October 2008) was a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach.

Early life

Prince Ludwig was born at Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria. He was the eldest son of Prince Franz of Bavaria, and his wife Princess Isabella Antonie of Croÿ. After graduating from the Maximilians-Gymnasium (located in Schwabing, Munich), Ludwig studied forestry at the university in Hungary. In 1939, as most young German men of his age, he was drafted into the military, serving as a Gebirgsjäger. However, his career in the German Army was short lived. In early 1941, Ludwig was relieved from all combat duties as a result of the Prinzenerlass which prohibited members of Germany's royal houses from participating in military operations. He spent the rest of the war at Sarvar in Hungary where his family owned a castle. In 1945, his family fled Hungary and settled at Leutstetten near Starnberg in Bavaria.

Marriage

On 19 July 1950, Ludwig married his first cousin Princess Irmingard of Bavaria (29 May 1923 in Berchtesgaden – 23 October 2010 in Leutstetten), daughter of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and Princess Antonia of Luxembourg. The civil wedding took place at Leutstetten, and the religious ceremony followed a day later at Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich. The couple had three children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren:

• Prince Luitpold of Bavaria (born 14 April 1951 in Leutstetten), married on 25 June 1979 in Starnberg, Katrin Beatrix Wiegand (born 19 September 1951 in Munich), daughter of Gerd Wiegand and Ellen Schumacher. They have five children and four grandchildren.
• Princess Maria of Bavaria (born and died 3 January 1953 in Leutstetten)
• Princess Philippa of Bavaria (born and died 26 June 1954 in Leutstetten)

Later life

After the death of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria in 1955, Ludwig and Irmingard moved into Schloss Leutstetten, where Irmingard continued to live. Ludwig was a Grand Prior of the Bavarian Order of Saint George, a Knight of the Order of Saint Hubert, and from 1960 a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Ludwig died of pneumonia at Schloss Leutstetten, 17 October 2008, at the aged 95. On Wednesday, 22 October at 10:00 a.m., a Funeral Liturgy was held in the abbey church at Andechs. After the Mass, his body was buried in the Wittelsbach cemetery on the abbey grounds.

Ancestry