Albrecht of Bavaria (1905-1996)
Albrecht Duke of Bavaria (born May 3, 1905 in Munich ; † July 8, 1996 at Berg Castle ) was a son of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and his first wife, Duchess Marie Gabriele in Bavaria . He was the only surviving child from that marriage. Until 1918 his title of nobility was Hereditary Prince Albrecht Luitpold Ferdinand Michael, Duke of Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine . He was the grandson of the last King of Bavaria , Ludwig III. which was discontinued in 1918. From 1919 to 1955 Albrecht was still known as the Hereditary Prince of Bavaria . After that he called himself Duke of Bavaria.
Life
Albrecht von Bayern's path through life made him a contemporary witness for almost the entire 20th century . At the end of the First World War he experienced the overthrow of the old Bavarian monarchy, which took place in Munich on November 7, 1918 as a harbinger of the November Revolution in Berlin. His life was further shaped by fleeing the turmoil of the revolutionary era, persecution during the Nazi era, imprisonment in concentration camps , the destruction of the country in World War II and the rise of democracy .
His childhood coincided with the last years of the monarchy. Since the death of his brother Luitpold in 1914, Albrecht was the Hereditary Prince of Bavaria . When the revolution began in Munich in 1918, he and King Ludwig III, his grandfather, fled to Tyrol . When the family later returned to Munich, Albrecht was able to acquire the university entrance qualification and then start studying forestry . He remained in the era of National Socialism failed the graduation because he was not prepared in a Nazi enter organization. On September 3, 1930 he married Maria Franziska Juliana Johanna Countess Drašković von Trakošćan (1904–1969) in Berchtesgaden . From this marriage there were four children.
The family took up residence in Bad Kreuth until 1937 . Since Albrecht of Bavaria, the policy of the Nazi regime refused, he went with his family to Croatia and from 1940 to Hungary to Nádasdy Castle into exile . In 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo and interned with his family in the Sachsenhausen , Flossenbürg and Dachau concentration camps until the end of the war in 1945 .
On Christmas Eve 1952, Albrecht von Bayern was invested in the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem at Berg Castle . He was President of the Bavarian Order Province. After renovation in the 1950s, his main residence was at Berg Castle until his death.
He and his two wives are buried in the Wittelsbach family cemetery in Andechs Monastery, which was rebuilt in 1977 under his direction.
forestry
After the end of the war, Albrecht von Bayern turned back to his studies in forestry. His particular passion was hunting. In the collection of his trophies there are 1290 buck and 590 goat skulls. There are also 3425 drop poles . In 2005, a deer museum was opened in the Royal Berchtesgaden Castle for this collection . Duke Albrecht and his wife Jenke published their research results of decades in the extensive work About Rehe in a Styrian mountain area , for which they received an honorary doctorate from Munich University. His further scientific interest was animal and plant science .
Head of the Wittelsbach family
After his father, the former Crown Prince Rupprecht , died in August 1955, Albrecht von Bayern assumed his rights and duties as head of the former royal family of Bavaria. His first wife died in 1969; In 1971 he married Marie-Jenke Clara Clementine Antonia Stephanie Walburga Paula Countess Keglevich von Buzin (1921–1983). With the celebration of his 75th birthday in 1980, the 800th anniversary of the reign of the House of Wittelsbach coincided, on the occasion of which the anniversary exhibition Wittelsbach and Bavaria took place. Albrecht von Bayern died on July 8, 1996 at the age of 91. Since then, his son Franz von Bayern has been head of the Wittelsbach family .
Jacobite pretender
Albrecht was a descendant of the Stuarts . He was therefore regarded by the Jacobites after the death of his father Rupprecht as the holder of the British throne and referred to by them as Albert I, King of England, Scotland, Ireland and France. However, he never publicly claimed this title. His position as heir to the House of Stuart passed to his son Franz (Francis II).
ancestors
progeny
Albrecht married on September 3, 1930 in Berchtesgaden Maria Countess Drašković von Trakošćan (1904-1969), daughter of Count Dionys and his wife Julia Princess of Montenuovo . The marriage had four children:
- Marie Gabrielle (* 1931) ⚭ Georg von Waldburg zu Zeil and Trauchburg (1928–2015)
- Marie Charlotte (1931–2018) ⚭ Paul von Quadt zu Wykradt and Isny (1930–2011)
- Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria (* 1933)
- Max Emanuel (* 1937) ⚭ Elizabeth Christina Douglas (* 1940)
His second marriage was on April 21, 1971 in Munich, Marie Jenke Eugenie Countess Keglevich von Buzin (1921-1983), daughter of Stephan Graf Keglevich von Buzin auf Abony and his wife Clara Countess Zichy zu Zich and Vásonykeo. The marriage remained childless.
Publications
- with Jenke von Bayern, Hans Eisbacher, Karl Meunier: About deer in a Styrian mountain area. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. BLV-Verlags-Gesellschaft, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-405-11851-4 .
- Weichselboden. Pictures and conclusion of the deer observations. BLV-Verlags-Gesellschaft, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-405-14342-X .
- The hunting legacy of Duke Albrecht of Bavaria. Instructions for managing large and small hunting grounds. Parey, Singhofen 1997, ISBN 3-89715-540-0 .
Notes and evidence
- ↑ The full name with title of nobility according to the private project Paul Theroff's Royal Genealogy Site was Albrecht Luitpold Ferdinand Michael, Duke of Bavaria ('Duke of Bavaria').
- ↑ a b On the question: “Since 1955 there has been the name“ Duke of Bavaria ”again. It's all a little complicated, because there is also a Duke in Bavaria. You yourself were also once a Prince of Bavaria. How is this nomenclature actually to be understood? ”In an interview in the Alpha Forum broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk on April 9, 2001 (transcript as PDF; 46 kB) ( memento from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), in which he as Duke Franz von Bayern or Duke Franz was introduced and when His Royal Highness Duke Franz von Bayern was addressed, Franz von Bayern, Albrecht's son, explained: “He [the father Albrecht] then decided that he would be the oldest and basically also the most distinguished title of the family, namely the title "Duke of Bavaria" used as his name. In his successor, I [son Franz] did that too. ” Wikipedia does not know whether, and if, since when the name Albrecht Herzog von Bayern was also registered with the registry and residents' registration office. Article 109 of the Weimar Constitution (WRV) of August 11, 1919 stipulates that the public law privileges of birth or status were to be abolished and that nobility titles may no longer be awarded. At the same time, the previous nobility names were declared part of the civil family name. In the case of the main line of the Wittelsbach family, since 1919 all members belonging to this family have borne the civil surname Prince of Bavaria or Princess of Bavaria. Only the members of the family who held a prominent Primogenitur title before 1919 until the nobility privileges were abolished were allowed to adopt this in their civil surname and from 1919 could no longer pass it on to their descendants
- ↑ Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility, Volume 50, Princely Houses, Volume IX, Limburg an der Lahn 1971, p. 7.
- ↑ Hans Jürgen Brandt: Jerusalem has friends. Munich and the Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher , EOS 2010, pp. 94–98.
- ↑ Mirror article for the exhibition "Wittelsbach and Bavaria"
literature
- Hans Rall , Marga Rall: The Wittelsbacher in life pictures . Friedrich Pustet et al., Regensburg et al. 1986, ISBN 3-7917-1035-4 , p. 375-380 .
- Albrecht Herzog von Bayern , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 44/1996 of October 21, 1996, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely available)
Web links
- Literature by and about Albrecht von Bayern in the catalog of the German National Library
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Rupprecht |
Head of the Wittelsbach house from 1955 to 1996 |
Franz |
| Robert I. and IV. |
Jacobite heir as Albert I. 1955–1996 |
Francis II |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bavaria, Albrecht von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bavaria, Albrecht Prinz von (until 1955); Bavaria, Albrecht Herzog von (from 1955); Bavaria, Albrecht Luitpold Ferdinand Michael Herzog von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German prince, head of the House of Wittelsbach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 3, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Munich |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 8, 1996 |
| Place of death | Berg Castle (Bavaria) |