Ludwig Revisited

The Swan King by Christopher McIntosh

I just finished a lovely biography of Bavaria’s favorite, deceased royal: Ludwig II. The book was The Swan King by Christopher McIntosh. In previous posts I mentioned how Ludwig is typically characterized as being mad, but now I’m prepared to revise my previous statements.

My earlier research portrayed him in a comical light, a jester with humorous antics, but this book had me pitying Ludwig. The story starts, like most biographies, with his childhood. Here we find a child neglected by his parents and passed off to various tutors. He was a pampered prince but this is no reason to write off this treatment. As anyone is contact with children knows, a stable household goes a long way in overall well-being, and Ludwig’s household was far from stable. At 18 his father died, and he found himself in charge of kingdom on the cusp of war.

Ludwig appears to have been painfully shy, not an ideal quality for a statesman. He was also sexually repressed. Most historians agree he had homosexual tendencies, and due to attitudes of the time, Ludwig spent his entire life trying to suppress these urges. His personal diary reads of repeated attempts to be “good”, the subsequent failures, and his promises and oaths to never stray from the path again. It’s heart-wrenching to read these endeavors and know that he considers his soul imperiled.

When his shyness advanced to a degree where he no longer wanted to be around fellow aristocrats, he withdrew to his buildings. Ludwig’s lack of interest in state affairs led to his government declaring him insane and unfit to rule—even though the diagnosing physician had not examined Ludwig in person.

Recent research into Ludwig’s madness has suggested that he may have had a form of syphilis since childhood—like his brother Otto, also confined due to his insanity. Others have suggested that Ludwig suffered from the lasting effects of meningitis, or that madness ran into his family. While this all could be true, the Bavarian government manipulated the system to remove him from the throne. Following this deposal is Ludwig’s mysterious death.

Both Ludwig and his physician, Dr. Gudden, were found dead in Lake Starnberg, but recent reviews of the autopsies indicate only the doctor had drowned. There is speculation that Ludwig was trying to escape from his confinement and the doctor dosed him during the argument. Did the fight led to Dr. Gudden drowning and Ludwig dying from an overdose of a sedative? We will never know for sure, but this is one of the many theories advanced about their mysterious deaths. This book changed my perspective of the fabled King, and taught me his life was not always enviable.