ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 69, 4 November 1911, Page 2

ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY.

It is reported from the Continent that tJie oldest ruler in Europe, the i'll nee Regent of Bavaria, who recently celebrated Ins ninetieth birthday, is dangerously ill. His life has neon one of the most extraordinary in modern history, not only for its length, but for the strange romance and tragedy with which it has been filled. The son of a King, the brother of two Kings, and the uncle of two Kings, he has never been a King himself, and yet ho lias ruled in Bavaria for a quarter of a century. He might have been a king, had he so desired, at any time in the last twenty years, for the Parliament of his land has over and over again besought him to assume the name that goes with the duties lie has performed so long, and the German and Austrian Emperors have repeatedly urged this step upon him. But so conscientious is ho that he has always refused; and he has also refused in all this time to take for himself a penny of the taxpayers’ money. Again, he may almost be said to have made an Emperor, for it was he who handed the Imperial crown to William I. of Prussia at Versailles in 1870, and without him Bismarck’s schemes to create the German Empire must have come to naught. Unlike the German Emperor, who respects him almost like a father, Prince Luitpold rarely dons a military uniform. He goes about ,in tweeds or the frock-coat of a civilian, and wears his many Orders only on State occasions. A devout Roman Catholic himself, he is not only tolerant of the religious views of others, but lends a kindly hand to the pastors of all churches.

Prince Luitpold lias been Regent of Bavaria for twenty-five years because two successive kings have been mad. Otto, the present nominal ruler, was insane when ho came to the throne on the death of his brother in 1886. Should he die, Prince Luitpold, his uncle, and next of kin, would inherit the throne. But Otto is only sixty-two years old and, according to the latest reports, is in the best of physical condition, so, in the nature of things, he should outlive his nonagenarian uncle. After the Regent the next heir to the throne is the latter’s eldest son, Prince Louis, sixty-six years old; after him comes the latter’s son, Prince Rupert, forty-two years old; and fourth in the line of succession is Rupert’s ten-year-old son, Lutipold a handsome joll-looking lad. Thus Bavaria has the unusual distinction of having four heirs-presumptivc to the throne in the direct line of succession.

Luitpold’s father was Louis 1., King of Bavaria, who was forced to abdicate because of his infatuation for Lola Montez, the notorious adventuress and beauty. At that time Luitpold was thirty years old. He was the youngest of three brothers. The eldest, Maximilian, succeeded to the throne of Bavaria; the second, Otto, became King of Greece, only to be driven from the throne by a military conspiracy. On the death of King Maximilian in 1864 his eldest sou, Louis, inherited the throne.

King Louis was a most extraordinary man, and there can bo little doubt that he really was insane many years before he was forced to adbicate because of his crazy actions. He lived more in a dream world thah in a real one. The only. man lie gave any sign of loving was Richard Wagner. For his family he had no regard. His childhood was passed in castles, on the walls of which were painted scenes from Bavarian legend. This uncanny boyhood was spent in the romantic castle of Hohenschwangau, where often his only companions were the painted warriors, ladies, and swans upon the walls and ceilings. The other members of his family teased him about his imaginative love affairs with fair ladies who had been dead for centuries. Such surroundings and such bringing up were the worst possible for a boy in whose blood flowed hereditary insanity. When Maximilian died, and the eighteen-year-old Louis came to the throne, he was said to be the handsomest king who had ever worn a crown. But it was a frail beauty, that of pale cheeks, long, silky hair, and large lustrous eyes. When war broke out in 1866 ho left the command of his armies to his uncle, the present Regent. When his faithful soldiers were being slaughtered at Sadowa, ho was secluded at Starnberg, with a poet, and when the news of that defeat was brought to him he was found in the woods at Hohenschwangau playing Tristan in apricot and canary-coloured tights! By 1876 his younger brother, Otto, had gone hopelessly insane and been put away in a private retreat. Louis in the meantime became haunted with ghastly nightmares. He would seek seclusion in some village inn ; he would hide in his castles, and only go out at midnight, driving four or six horses attached to a sleigh in the form of a golden swan with wings displayed. In this he would recline on nine velvet cushions.

In 1886 the King shut himself up in his mountain castle, refusing to see his Ministers or even his servants. A family council sent specialists to examine Louis, and, on their report, decided that he must be deposed and placed under restraint. Ho was compelled to abdicate on June 10th, 1886, and three days later his body and that of Dr. Von (hidden, his attendant, were found in Lake Starnborg. Otto, also mad, succeeded him under the regency of his uncle, Luitpold. There is little doubt that the insanity of these two brothers was hastened by their unfortunate early love affairs. Louis was engaged to his cousin, Duchess Sopha of Bulgaria, an unconventional gilt who had many friends amongst artists. Louis’s mother was opposed to the match; and one of her ladies-in-waiting was in love with the King. These two women set a trap for the Duchess, and arranged that she should bo discovered by the King in the studio of a photographer. The young people fell into the trap; the King, in anger, postponed the marriage, which so offended the girl’s parents that they declared it off. Otto’s love affair came when he was twenty-one, and its object was a young countess. One day at a picnic on the shores of the Tegernscc lie and she wandered away and spent the whole afternoon picking strawberries. King Louis was so angi'y with his brother for this escapade that he carried him off to Munich, and made the girl’s parents place her in a convent.

Throughout tho insanity of these two kings, their very sane old undo, Luitpold, had been governing their kingdom for them. He reorganised the army, and made it splendidly efficient. He has gradually been paying off the almost fabulously large debts left by Louis 1., living in the meantime by his own private income. When he first became Regent lie was the worst hatecl man in Bavaria, for the people loved their handsome, eccentric King Louis. They would not believe that he was insane; they believed that Luitpold had had him deposed and shut up in his castle out of personal ambition. But they very soon learned the contrary. Every time the Bavarian Parliament has wanted to depose the crasy king, and enable Prince Luitpold to reign in name as well as in fact, he has (irmly oppos-

r.d the plan, saying the Bavarian Constitution would not permit it. ” And so ho has lived and grown old, unselfishly working for others, witli no recompense whatever for his services, save only the deep love of Ids people and the profound respect of rulers of other lands.