LUIGI II, king of BAVIERA. - B. 25 Aug. 1845 at Nymphenburg, d. 13 June 1886 in Lake Starnberg. Son of Massimiliano II of Bavaria and Maria of Prussia, he succeeded his father to the throne in 1864. He discovered the genius of Riccardo Wagner and facilitated the performance of his works.
Of an artistic temperament, he had no interest in politics and allowed the government of the State to be directed by his ministers, who adopted measures gravely hostile to the Catholic Church, among other things supporting the heretical and schismatic machinations of Döllinger. On Bismarck’s advice, although reluctant and jealous of the autonomy of his kingdom also for dynastic reasons, L. offered the German imperial dignity to the king of Prussia in Dec. 1870. Because of the great expenditures on buildings and the eccentricities of his character, he was deprived of the exercise of sovereign powers. He died a few days after this dethronement, together with the psychiatrist Dudden, who had drawn up the report concerning his insanity. The circumstances of the double death are still shrouded in mystery.