We’d wanted for a very long time to see King Ludwig II’s fairy-tale castle of Neuschwanstein.
Disney, as we’ve noted previously, purportedly took inspiration from this late 19th century castle for Sleeping Beauty’s castle. Photos of the romantic castle against the mountains are so seductive.
To our chagrin, it turns out that you have to book tickets to get access at least a month in advance in the fall; who knows what’s needed in peak season. We had had the sloppiness to try to book a mere week in advance.
But then we realized that it wasn’t the interiors of the castle that obsessed us; it was those stunning views in the landscape. We set out to get a good photo or two. Online we found a recommendation to go Marienbrucke or Mary’s Bridge, from which you can capture a nicely framed shot. Instructions said to go to the base parking area for Neuschwanstein (12€ just to enter!) and walk up toward the castle and then toward the bridge for about 15 minutes. We huffed and puffed up the road to the castle — although it was a beautiful autumn afternoon.
After about 25 minutes, and in sight of the castle base, we found a marker that said the path through the forest to Marienbrucke would take another 45 minutes! Hmmm. Perhaps the online article meant to go by car rather than by foot. Oops. But it turns out you can’t go by car either. Our mantra became, “Let it go!”
Then we learned that there was no way to replicate the most famous views. That’s because you have to use a drone and control it from a technically inaccessible part of the mountain behind the castle. So, once again: “Let it go!”
Our efforts did, however, yield a few good shots from the greater neighborhood.
The story of Neuschwanstein Castle starts with Hohenschwangau Castle, an older, nearby castle that Ludwig II’s father had aquired and renovated.
We were able to take a tour of this one. Our guide did an adequate job; it was obvious that he’d led this 35-minute tour thousands of times already. But he gave us a lot of background about the ruling family of both castles, and Ludwig II’s origins and projects.
We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the castle, but these are from the site for the castle:
Hohenschwangau Castle was just a summer retreat for these two generations of the Wittelsbach family. Their main home was the 130-room Residenz in Munich. Ludwig’s father, King Maximilian II, had the family rooms decorated to show off his family’s history as well as to create a comfortable retreat in the country. It may have been that Ludwig felt most at ease in this calm place away from the politics and expectations of Munich.
In 1864, Ludwig II acceded to the throne when he was only 18. He was clear that he hadn’t any experience in life or in politics. In just two years, Prussia conquered Bavaria, and abruptly turned “King” Ludwig into only a vassal of his Prussian uncle.
Ludwig II was possessed by the idea of a holy kingdom by the Grace of God. In reality he was a constitutional monarch, a head of state with rights and duties and little freedom of action. In denial, he built a fantasy world around him in which he could feel he was a real king. From 1875 on he lived at night and slept during the day. ※
He grew obsessed with creating a new castle in the hills above Hohenschwangau Castle. Perhaps it was to fulfill his lost-king fantasy. Or to escape into a wonderful world of art and beauty and music.
Our guide referred to King Ludwig II as more interested in music and culture than military and political matters. He called off his wedding to Duchess Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria at the last minute and never married. He was obsessed with Richard Wagner and his music; Wagner probably took advantage of Ludwig’s obsession to fund his own work and lifestyle.
When Ludwig was just 40 years old, other factions in and around the royal family successfully conspired to have him declared insane and unfit to rule. Soon after his being deposed, he and one of the “doctors” who had declared him mentally unfit were found drowned in the lake near the castles. To this day, no one knows exactly how he died. While the body of the doctor showed signs of strangulation, Ludwig’s body did not, nor was there water in his lungs. Ludwig was a big strong man, 193 cm or 6’-4” tall, so it was unlikely that the much smaller doctor had done him in. Speculation is that Ludwig had a heart attack while killing the doctor.
An official, modern statement about why Ludwig lost his crown reads, “From 1885 on foreign banks threatened to seize his property. The king’s refusal to react rationally led the government to declare him insane and depose him in 1886 – a procedure not provided for in the Bavarian constitution.”
We could sense that all these descriptions were code for a missing detail. Research was needed.
It seems very likely that Ludwig desired men all his life. Being a devout Catholic, he probably suffered greatly from the judgments about these attractions. There are historical records that attest to a number of men Ludwig had feelings for. As a youth, Prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis was a close friend. They would ride and hike in the Bavarian mountains, recite poetry to each other, and obsess about Wagner’s operas. Later, Ludwig developed a deep affection for Richard Hornig, a former officer in the Bavarian army who had become the chief equerry of the royal household. Ludwig gave a lake property to Hornig, and described him in his diary as “Beloved of My Soul.” Later, Ludwig became infatuated with a young Hungarian actor, Josef Kainz, whom he first saw on stage in 1881. During a brief relationship, the king gave him many expensive presents and took him on a trip to Switzerland. ※
But there’s also evidence that he vehemently hated his homosexuality. He may have tried to medicate himself out of being gay — with questionable nineteenth-century methods — which could have contributed to his increasingly erratic and bizarre behavior. An unfortunately not uncommon savage tension between the engines of his inherent sexuality and society’s destructive judgments.
We can expand our understanding of the complicated path that led to Ludwig’s deposition. All the official explanations for his being removed have foundation: his lack of interest in his political and administrative responsibilities, his resistance to Prussian domination, his isolation from his Bavarian subjects, and his elaborate building projects, including notably Neuschwanstein Castle, that plunged him deeply in debt and consumed most of his time.
And fused into all that was Ludwig’s own deep struggles with his sexuality and his gay behavior in a time of violent societal judgment.
Alas, pretty, romantic, Disney-gobbled Neuschwanstein Castle becomes so much more complicated and sad.
October 2024