The Fairy-Tale King and His Dream Castle: Ludwig II and Neuschwanstein

Jin CHEN

Perspectives, Vol. 2, No. 1

Believe it or not, a fairy-tale castle exists in reality, as does a fairy-tale king. King Ludwig II of Bavaria had a life that can be characterized as follows:

His paradise was art; His life was drama; His ideal was freedom; His destiny was isolation; His love was an unfulfilled longing; His death in the lake - A mystery, even today.

How so?

Let me begin with his magnificent castle, Neuschwanstein. It is a white castle with towers and spires in the style of the Middle Ages. Surrounded by ancient trees and mountains, it embodies the 19th century romantic ideal of returning to nature. It has an imposing position overlooking a quiet lake, Lake Starnberg, in a valley and a narrow path winding into the forest. Many of the rooms inside have an opulent display of paintings of the scenes of Richard Wagner's operas, especially in the bedroom, the study and the Singer's Room. This famous castle of Ludwig II is one of the most popular sights in southern Germany today.

It was built in a majestic, but secluded, mountainous region southwest of Munich, the capital of Bavaria. The foundation stone was laid on September 5, 1869, after the construction of the road and the laying of water pipes. Ludwig II created the site for his dream castle by having the rocky plateau, on which two citadels had once stood, dynamited and lowered by about 8 meters. Naturally the massive construction of the castle required vast sums of money. It employed hundreds of craftsmen and tradesmen.

In 1880, 209 stonemasons, bricklayers, servants and unskilled laborers were working solely on this building project. In 1872 alone, the cement manufacturer delivered no less than 450 tons of cement to the building complex; 1,845 hectoliters of lime were delivered; marble, brought all the way from Salzburg (about 100 miles east of the castle), was used for the arches, buttresses, windows, pillars and capitals. One can hardly imagine today the kinds of technical construction problems that had to be overcome with 19th century technology. The enormous quantities of building materials were lifted by means of a steam-powered crane, taken by trucks to where they were required, and then hoisted further up by pulleys to the actual sites where they would be used in the building process.

What gave rise to the King's determination to undertake such a massive construction project in 1869, and other castles in subsequent years, Linderhof in 1874 and Herrenchiemsee in 1878, even with his increasing debts? Was he an awful king, wasting the wealth of his people so he could pursue his own extravagant life style? Not really. This is an over-simplification of a complex reality. Let us take a look at King Ludwig's brief, but eventful, life history.

King Ludwig II was born on August 25, 1845 in Nymphenburg in Munich as the first child of the Crown Prince Maximilian of Bavaria and his wife Marie, a Princess of Prussia. The little prince was "unbelievably beautiful" and christened Ludwig. His only brother, Otto, was born three years later. Both princes were strictly brought up by their father, and were not prepared at all for their future responsibilities as head of state. Prince Ludwig spent his childhood and youth in Hohenschwangau, a castle inherited and rebuilt by his father. His active mind was captivated by the many paintings on the walls, which depicted the mythological world of the history of Germany in the Middle Ages. The paintings intensified his romantically inclined emotions, and awoke in him his love for everything noble. He also greatly enjoyed wandering in the forests and valleys around the castle. He felt more and more drawn towards poetry, painting, and soon, music.

At the age of sixteen, Prince Ludwig listened to the Richard Wagner opera "Lohengrin" for the first time in the Munich State Opera House. He was fascinated by this totally new form of music. He saw all of his romantic dreams realized in Wagner's composition structure and his elaboration of the theme. Since then, Ludwig tried to collect all Wagner's compositions and publications. This kind of art suited Ludwig's idealism and romantic enthusiasm, and to some extent, helped divorce himself from the profane world, and flee into a "spiritual paradise", where everything was noble and beautiful.

Two months after he became King Ludwig II of Bavaria in March 1864, at the young age of eighteen and a half, Ludwig II brought the idolized composer Wagner into Munich and supported him lavishly. Released from all financial concerns, Wagner was able to pursue his plans for the great German hero opera, which in turn inspired Ludwig II to create a German music school in Munich and build a big new opera house. But the King's plan to make Munich a center for music like Vienna failed due to strong opposition from the Government and Parliament concerned about high construction costs and his lavish spending on Wagner, who was accused of having "the intention of isolating the King." Ludwig II felt offended, but had to yield to the pressure and let Wagner leave Bavaria in December 1865.

The King's antagonism toward the Government grew stronger each year after 1865. He lingered in his beloved world of the Alps more often, far from all the intrigues and quarreling of the court. Merely one and a half years after ascending the throne, the 20-year-old ruler wrote to Wagner, "Oh, how futile is this world! - How miserable, how cruel so many men! Their lives are centered in the close circle of shallow triviality. - Oh, if only this world lay behind me!"

In January, 1867, Ludwig II was engaged to his cousin, Princess Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria, a sister of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sissy) whom he revered so much. But the young King unexpectedly broke off this engagement ten months later. After that he never considered marriage again.

Ludwig II loved neither the military nor war, but in the summer of 1866, due to high political tension, he had to sign the mobilization order against Prussia, demanded by the Parliament. After a three-week disastrous war, Bavaria was forced to accept a peace treaty, submitting certain sovereign rights to Prussia in addition to a reparation of 30 million Gulden (54 million Gold Marks). Because of this treaty, Bavaria was dragged into the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. While the German armies went from victory to victory, the Bavarian troops were badly equipped and were supported only by great courage. In September of 1870, the Prime Minister of Bavaria outmaneuvered King Ludwig II and offered the German imperial crown to the Prussian monarch in order to acquire certain advantages for Bavaria in the war. On January 18, 1871, King Wilhelm of Prussia became the German Kaiser in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. Almost all of the German nobility was present at the ceremony, except Ludwig II.

After many years of fighting against political intrigue and personal attacks, Ludwig II became increasingly embittered. The more he felt misunderstood by the world around him, the more his shyness began to emerge. Frequently, he traveled through his beloved alpine country and was seldom seen in public. Rumors started circulating that he was a lonely king and a fairy-tale king. Ludwig II concentrated more and more on creating his own world, in which everything was noble and beautiful and in which he could realize an absolute rule.

The first expression of the King's vision was manifested in his castles, starting with Neuschwanstein in 1869. Eventually these building projects became impossible to finance with the King's annual income. In the beginning of 1886, Ludwig II had liabilities amounting to 13 million Marks at an annual income of 5.5 million Marks. At the King's death, these debts had increased to the amount of 21 million Marks. This money was owed to the State of Bavaria by Ludwig, i.e., by the King's family, and had to be repaid. None of the suggestions, put forward by the members of his Cabinet in an attempt to reduce the King's expenditures, was successful. So the Government decided to have doctors declare the King mentally incompetent and have his duties taken over by a Regent.

On June 8, 1886, a medical commission, under the direction of Dr. von Gudden, compiled a medical declaration that the King was insane and that as a result he could no longer carry out his official functions. In fact, however, there is substantial written evidence to the contrary, showing that the King, although unhappy, acted calmly and composedly and regarded his surroundings with rigid politeness during this period. One document claims that the medical commission wrote the declaration without even examining Ludwig. Nonetheless, the commission succeeded in forcing their will on the King. On June 12, 1886, Dr. von Gudden took the King from Neuschwanstein for a walk, and they never came back. They were found dead the next day, drowned in Lake Starnberg. There have been various speculations on the cause of the strange deaths of the King and Dr. von Gudden, but none of them has been conclusively substantiated.

By now the entire world adores the Bavarian dream king and admires the romantic dreamscapes of his fairy-tale castles. But how should we view the life of King Ludwig II? To me, the most interesting question is whether the Bavarian government properly deposed the King in 1886. Specifically, there are two questions. First, was Ludwig II a fit king? This is a substantive question. Secondly, did the Bavarian government use the proper procedure to depose the King? This is a procedural question.

As for the first question, apparently Ludwig II was a noble person loving anything beautiful and divine and innocent of court politics; I have sympathy for him. Yet, I must say that he was not a fit king in view of the interests of the state of Bavaria. First of all, Ludwig II was not suited for his responsibilities due to his education and eccentric personality. He had no sense of money at all. He created his own reality and lived in a fantasy world. This kind of problem is common with hereditary kingship.

Secondly, King Ludwig II lost touch with reality, even if in some ways he still functioned as a normal person. Where and how could he realize absolute rule in the second half of the 19th century after the revolutions of 1848 throughout Europe? Members of the middle class and nobility who began demanding constitutional and representative governments initiated the revolutions of 1848. Although governmental changes achieved by these revolutions were short-lived, the revolutions influenced the course of European government in the long term by undermining the concept of absolute monarchy and establishing an impetus for liberalism and socialism. Against this broader backdrop, Ludwig II's single-mindedness in building his own castles with increasing debts, as a way to shy away from court politics and realize his vision of absolute rule along with beauty and divinity, quickened his demise.

Thirdly, although Ludwig II left an interesting and impressive legacy of castles for today's tourists coming from around the world to admire, his self-created delusions of grandeur were realized only at great economic cost to his own people. The people of Bavaria could have been better off without this massive misallocation of resources. In this sense, Ludwig II was not alone, but one of a long line of wasteful kings and political leaders, including some recent French Presidents, who liked to aggrandize themselves by building expensive monuments at the expense of their taxpayers.

The substantive question aside, how about the procedural question? Part of the legitimacy of the Bavarian government's action to remove King Ludwig II hinges on whether the government followed proper procedures as prescribed by the laws of the time, leaving aside the substantive question of whether the King was actually insane. Under Bavarian law, to claim the King's incapability due to medical reasons was the only way to have the King relieved of his state responsibilities, if he would not step down of his own accord. Thus the details of the laws become important in formulating our judgment. Were there clear and comprehensive provisions regarding the removal of a King in Bavarian law around 1886? If yes, where was the fine line between personal quirks and insanity? What were the criteria for judging whether a King was too mentally incompetent to be the head of the state? Who was responsible for bringing the King's competence into question? Who were the judges? And what were the legal procedures to remove the King? To what extent were these procedures subject to political maneuvers? Only after we answer these questions can we form an informed opinion regarding the legality of the removal of King Ludwig II, the fairy-tale king, from the Bavarian throne more than one century ago.

(The author is an M.A. candidate in regional studies at Harvard University.)