Marie of Prussia

Marie of Prussia (German: Marie Friederike Franziska Hedwig von Preußen; October 15, 1825 – May 17, 1889) was Queen of Bavaria and the mother of Kings Ludwig II and Otto of Bavaria.

For other uses, see Marie of Prussia (disambiguation).
Marie of Prussia
Queen Marie in middle age, 1860s
Queen consort of Bavaria
Tenure28 March 1848 – 10 March 1864
Born(1825-10-15)15 October 1825
Berlin City Palace, Prussia
Died17 May 1889(1889-05-17) (aged 63)
Hohenschwangau Castle, Bavaria
Burial
Theatine Church
SpouseMaximilian II of Bavaria
IssueLudwig II
Otto I
HouseHohenzollern (by birth) Wittelsbach (by marriage)
FatherPrince Wilhelm of Prussia
MotherPrincess Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg
ReligionEvangelical Christian Church, later Roman Catholicism

Life

Born and raised in Berlin, she was the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, a younger brother of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, and his wife Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg. The family spent half of the year at Fischbach (today Karpniki) Castle in Silesia, where they loved to hike in the Giant Mountains.

As a young woman, Marie was seriously considered as a wife for Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, until her engagement to Maximilian was announced.

Marriage
Marie of Prussia as Crown Princess of Bavaria, by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1843, Gallery of Beauties, Nymphenburg Palace
Queen Marie of Bavaria, 1864

On 12 October 1842, she married the Crown Prince, and later King of Bavaria, Maximilian II.

Marie was loved equally by both the Protestants and Roman Catholic populations. (At that time, Prussia was mostly Evangelical, whilst Bavaria was mostly Roman Catholic.) A specific emphasis of her "great social engagement" was a reactivation of the Bavarian Women's Association, which took place on 18 December 1869 with the aid of her son, Ludwig II. Its aim was "Pflege und Unterstützung der im Felde verwundeten und erkrankten Krieger" (Care and support of soldiers wounded and injured in the field). The Bavarian Red Cross was officially founded as a result of the Bavarian Women's Association. The Red Cross eventually took over for the Queen.

With the sudden death of Maximilian II on 10 March 1864, Marie became a widow. On 12 October 1874, she converted to Roman Catholicism.

As a widow she lived at Nymphenburg Palace. She spent her summer holidays at Schloss Hohenschwangau near Füssen, a castle her husband had redecorated in Gothic revival style, and at her country estate in Elbigenalp in the Lechtal Alps. She enjoyed hiking the mountains, which she had often done with her sons when they were young. Marie looked after her second son Otto who was declared insane. She outlived her elder son, Ludwig II, by several years. He died on 13 June 1886. He had not liked her very much (just as he disliked most of his other relatives) and had tried to avoid contact as far as possible. Marie died in 1889 in Hohenschwangau.

She is interred in the Theatine Church in Munich in a side chapel opposite her husband.

Issue
  • Ludwig II of Bavaria (25 August 1845 - 13 June 1886); succeeded as King of Bavaria as Ludwig II. Declared mentally incompetent without examination and deposed in a coup in favour of his uncle, Prince Luitpold, on 10 June 1886;died under disputed circumstances.
  • Otto I of Bavaria (27 April 1848 - 11 October 1916); succeeded as King of Bavaria as Otto I, but reigned only in name due to the regency of his uncle, Prince Luitpold. Declared mentally incompetent and deposed on 5 November 1913 by his cousin Prince Ludwig, later King Ludwig III of Bavaria.

Honours

Ancestry
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References
  1. Geneall

This article was translated from the article on the German Wikipedia on December 21, 2005.

Marie of Prussia
Born: 15 October 1825 Died: 17 May 1889
German royalty
Preceded by
Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen		 Queen consort of Bavaria
28 March 1848 – 10 March 1864		 Vacant
Title next held by
Maria Theresa of Austria-Este
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