History's 9 Most Insane Rulers by Scott Rank

Author:Scott Rank
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regnery History
Published: 2020-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

The close partnership between Ludwig and Richard Wagner was fruitful for both. Wagner had been on the brink of financial ruin for years and carried on numerous affairs that destroyed friendships and his own marriage; he was now released from all financial concerns and finally able to create The Ring of the Nibelung, which would become a sixteen-hour series of four operas, his magnum opus. Inspired by Norse sagas, the cycle depicted the entire creation and destruction of the world. It was clearly ambitious. Ludwig II also planned to establish a German music school in Munich and envisioned a large new opera house to meet the technical challenges required by Wagner’s operas. Munich would be a center of musical education and creation, like Vienna in the eighteenth century. The plan failed, however, due to opposition from the government, his own family, and Munich citizens. Countercurrents grew because of the prohibitive costs of the planned building and the character of the “revolutionary” Wagner.8 Moreover, rumors have long persisted of a romantic relationship between the composer and the king, as letters between them suggest. Ludwig referred to Wagner as “the star that shines upon my life,” and spoke of his ardent love for him. Wagner was expelled from Munich after only a year due to the “improprieties” of an indiscreet affair with Cosima von Bülow, the wife of a local conductor, who gave birth to their illegitimate daughter. He nevertheless stayed a lifelong Ludwig beneficiary.9

Rumors have swirled around Ludwig’s love life for over a century. The king never married and did not have known mistresses. According to his diary, private letters, and speculation from contemporaries about his close friendships with men, he had strong homosexual desires. Whether or not Ludwig acted on these desires remains speculation. Older accounts of Ludwig’s life speculate on his attraction to a Russian princess and his desire to build a castle in the Greco-Muscovite or Russo-Byzantine style. As a lover of opera, Ludwig may have also been interested in two opera stars who captivated him (more by their art than anything else): Josephine Vogel and Josephine Schefsky. One rumor depicts him attracted to a peasant girl in a real-life instance of the folk trope of royalty falling in love with peasantry.10

In 1867, Ludwig became engaged to his first cousin, Sophie Charlotte, daughter of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. She was the sister of his much-beloved cousin, Elizabeth of Austria. A delay in the marriage occurred; excuses were offered. Among the rumored reasons for breaking the engagement—beyond that of his lack of interest in women—was that he had heard Elizabeth was in love with someone else, and he canceled the marriage due to jealousy. Another rumor states that he tarried so long in final preparations that Elizabeth’s father asked Ludwig to name a day for the wedding or break off the engagement. Ludwig, feeling himself under compulsion, refused the marriage altogether. This and other increasingly eccentric forms of behavior frightened his cousin.

Despite his odd behavior, Ludwig upheld his kingly duties in the early years of his reign.

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