#House Wittelsbach

[venicepearl]

Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (18 July 1753 – 4 February 1824) was Countess Palatine of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen and Duchess in Bavaria, through her marriage to Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria. Maria Anna was a great-grandmother of Empress Elisabeth of Austria through her son Duke Pius August in Bavaria.

[archduchessofnowhere]

We all know media loves to paint Elisabeth and her family as humble country people who lived in a modest state and were look down by the rest of their relatives for being "poor". But how did being "poor" looked like for the Ducal Wittelsbach? Well, let's look at their states! Yes, plural.

The most famous residence of the Ducal Wittelsbach was Possenhofen, a humble, small castle at the shore of Lake Starnberg that acted as the family's summer state.

This is said humble castle btw:

Ok, so if "humble" Possenhofen was just a summer residence, what was the main residence of Ducal Wittelsbach? Well, that would be Herzog Max Palais, a neoclassical three-story palace in Munich built for Duke Max between 1828 and 1830. In case you don't know, Elisabeth was born here!

Sadly, the palace was demolished and no longer exists today.

Was this all? Well, no! Because Duke Max also owned a hunting lodge called Unterwittelsbach near Aichach:

This castle acted as a sort of bachelor residence for Duke Max; neither his wife nor children were allowed to visit. Ironically, today Untterwittelsbach is known as the "Sisi Castle" and a museum about the empress works there.

Ok, this is it! Three castles! Pretty impressive for this alleged poor royal fam- KIDDING DID YOU REALLY THOUGHT THAT WAS IT?

You see, when Max bought Possenhofen he also bought another property at the shore of Lake Starnberg: Garatshausen Castle

Today the castle is owned by the Thurn und Taxis, and hosts a hospital and retirement residence.

Ok now we are done for real... with the castles Duke Max owned. Ludovika had her own castles too!

Ludovika inhereted from her parents two properties: Tegernsee Abbey (left) and Biederstein Castle (right) (disclaimer: Biederstein was actually two castles: the Old Castle built in the 18th century - pictured here in the 1890s - and the New Castle, built in the 1820s)

Tegernsee is the only property on this list that is still owned by the Wittelsbachs. Meanwhile Biederstein Castle was bombed during WW2 and no longer exists today.

Ok, so now for real real, that is it! I may be missing some property, but as far as I'm aware, Max and Ludovika owned these six residences (seven if we consider that Biederstein was two castles). Much for Sisi being a humble country girl right?

[elsalouisa]

"But of all the followers of the hunt it was the Empres, with her radiant beauty, her fine seat on a horse and her wonderful figure, who was the cynosure of all eyes. Horses and the care of her figure were her two chief interests in life, and she carried her love of equestrianism so far that she even practised circus-riding in her private riding school at Gödöllő. Horses, too, furnished her favourite topic of conversation, and on one occasion my stepmother, who was no respecter of persons, after listening for some time to what the Empress had to say on the subject, dryly remarked "Est-ce que Votre Majesté ne pense qu’ aux chevaux?" History does not record Her Majesty’s answer, but I should imagine that the conversation, was brought to a speedy close!"

Sir George Buchanan "My mission to Russia: And other diplomatic memories"

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

VERY rare photo of Empress Elisabeth “Sisi” of Austria smiling at the camera, 1870s (?) 🤍✨🥹

Source: Pinterest

[roehenstart]

Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans (1652-1722). By Pierre Mignard.

[dreamconsumer]

Portrait of Prince Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria. By Augustin Coppens.

[tiny-librarian]

A portrait of Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress as the second wife of Joseph II.

[nobility-art]

Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden

Artist: Attributed to Martin van Meytens  (1695–1770) 

Genre: Portrait

Date: 1730

Medium: Oil on Canvas

COllection: National Portrait Gallery of Sweden

Ulrika Eleonora or Ulrica Eleanor, known as Ulrika Eleonora the Younger, reigned as Queen of Sweden from 5 December 1718 until her abdication on 29 February 1720 in favour of her husband Frederick.

[aristo-men]

Prince Ludwig Heinrich of Bavaria (1982-). He’s the grandson of King Ludwig III of Bavaria.

[emvidal]

[venicepearl]

Amalie of the Palatinate (25 July 1490 in Heidelberg – 6 January 1524, Szczecin) was a member of the Wittelsbach family and a Countess Palatine of Simmern by birth and Duchess of Pomerania-Wolgast by marriage.

[archduchessofnowhere]

Letter from Duchess Ludovika in Bavaria to her niece, Countess Théodolinde of Württenberg (née Princess of Leuchtenberg):

Munich, 20 April, 1846

... I would not have thought of taking on a sub-governess, as I have an excellent nanny for the younger girls, with whom my Charles [Karl Theodor] is still with; but Hélène's character makes me wish to separate her from her sister Elise [Elisabeth]; without being mean, she has nevertheless influenced her sister, who is much gentler and of a very conscientious nature, but the elder one undermines her, and I am convinced that it is necessary to separate them as much as possible. My intention is: that the governess should manage the education, but so that she can take care of each one separately, I would like to take Mlle Richelle for fear of detouring from one to the other during this time. Also to take charge of French entirely, and to convey the lessons of M Zesage [?]. These are my intentions, but I can't make up my mind until I've heard back from the lady to whom I'd like to entrust my daughters. In the meantime I forgot to mention the reason for all these changes, which is that Miss Nembald is marrying Count Spreti, and will be leaving my daughters in the course of the summer! Thank God I always have good news from Louis [Ludwig Wilhelm], who is in such good hands! It's a great reassurance, and the 5 [children] I have left give me, as you can see, no shortage of work. For my Charles, I have the good fortune to have an excellent nanny capable of teaching him German, French, arithmetic etc. like a man, and who imposes more on him than a governor ever did on his brother, because he loves her very much - but it is not a small thing to rule this world! because other than that I have 2 teachers attached to our house who follow us on the campaign, one teacher of religion and the other, universal, for everything, because he teaches everything we can ask including Greek and Latin, for the boys and music. I kept him when Louis left, as he had only been with us for a few years. If he had had him earlier, he would have taken his education in a different direction, which would undoubtedly have been more successful...

[elsalouisa]

Archduchess Marie Valerie about King Ludwig II of Bavaria:

18 June 1881. Oh! The King is supposed to come to Possenhofen today to visit Mama. He had an enormous magnificent bouquet sent to her with the query, when might he visit her? But it must be in the evening and no one is allowed to look at him! … but we will see him somehow anyway.

19 June 1881. No, is it possible … that … o no! The King … yesterday on 18 June 1881, yesterday I tell you, spoke to me … only me out of all of the children! no … no … but actually, yes. So: yesterday the King was supposed to visit Mama in Possenhofen at 7 oclock, and we (Amélie, Paula, Elisabeth, Countess Kornis, Siegfried, a Miss Tebr. and I) were watching from Count Angele’s room. But there was honeysuckle growing up to the window and I said I would throw a sprig down to the King; everyone said, no, then Mama came and I called out to her and asked if I could. Mama said she would fetch jasmine (because there is a long story connected with jasmine and the King), but oh! while Mama was getting the jasmine, the King came into the schloss himself to look for her. There was a kerfuffle. We ran to Siegfried’s balcony and Mama was already down below with the King and oh! she said that I, me alone, could come down so that she could introduce me, 0, me, and only me to him. O! I can still hardly believe it! But I came trembling and Mama handed me the jasmine before the door and now this incredible thing should actually take place. And I didn't even have time to put on my gloves and my dress (it was still the brown linen one) was dirty and creased. But I came out anyway … and gave him the jasmine with a very, very low curtsey! O! Great King, now you actually have the jasmine I gave you!!! He wanted to kiss my hand o! He asked me if Nazi was in Prague and I said: “Y…es!” He asked me if Gisela was here and I said: “No, she is in Munich.” He asked me whom I was up there with, whether they were my cousins and I said “Y…es.” He speaks very fast and unclearly and felt as embarrassed as | did. Mama invited us to use informal pronouns with each and he said: “But if so, then both of us, right?” And then I gave another courtesy and left. Of course, I was inundated with questions back upstairs, what it was like, what he said etс". …

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

What is your favorite royal house and favorite royal? (and why) conrasts btw!

Hi anon!

I think my favorite royal house obviously has to be the House of Romanov (russian royal family)!! This is the obvious choice because I love NAOTMAA and their life and history, but my love really just spans for them from the 1800s and up really. The early Romanovs aren’t my specialty nor my favorites.

But other royal houses that I love that stretch far beyond the 1800s are The Hapsburgs (Austria and Spain), The Wittelsbachs (Bavaria), The Tudors (England), The Hohenzollerns (Germany), and the many other royal houses of England (the Anglo Saxons, Normans, Plantagenets, Stuarts, Hanoverians, Saxe-Coburg and Gothas, and Windsors. These are all awesome because they just have such RICH history!

Thank you for your ask!

[roehenstart]

Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (1869-1955).

Son of Ludwig III of Bavaria, he was opposed to the Nazi regime in Germany. After the war he aspired to the restoration of the monarchy in Bavaria. Between 60-70% of the post-war population was in favour of the restoration, due to the good memory of the Wittelsbach government and the anti-Nazi attitude. As late as September 1954, 70 Bavarian parliamentarians declared themselves in favour of the monarchy. But opposition from the American occupation authorities prevented the restoration process going ahead.

[dreamconsumer]

Archduchess Sophie of Austria, Princess of Bavaria. By Josef Kriehuber.