Crown Prince Rupprecht's Son Albrecht (1905-96)


Figure 1.--This portrait of Prince Rupprecht's sons Luitpold and Albrecht was probably taken about 1907. Luitpold wears a satin suit and lage collar while his little brther Albrecht, who looks to be about 2 years old, wears a filly dress. Motice the large shoulder bows.

Bavarian Prince Albrecht (Albert) was born in 1905. We have few details about his childhood. He wore elegant often fncy outfits just like styles his older brother Luitpold wore. Often they were identiucal or coordinated. Albrecht is the only one of Rupprecht's children to live to adulthood. He became Duke of Bavaria in the geological line, although he never reigned. He married Countess Maria Draskovich at Berchetesgaden in 1930. (This was apparently before Hitler had his retreat there.) They had four children: Marie (1931- ), Marie Charlotte (1931- ), Franz (1933- ), Max Emanuel, Duke of Bavaria (1937- ). We are not sure what happened to Franz, Max Emanuel became the heritary duke.

Parents


Crown Prince Rupprecht

Crown Prince Rupprecht (Ruppert) was born in 1869. He succeeded as head of the Wittelsbach dynasty in 1921 upon the death of his father, Ludwig III, the last ruling King of Bavaria. Since then, royal titles have no longer carried any legal status.

Mother

Rupprecht married Maria Gabriele (1884-1912) of Bavaria in 1900 who became as a result a duchess. Her father was Karl Theodor "Gackl" (1839). Karl Theodor was a son of King Maximilian I Joseph, Bavaria's first king. Her mother was Maria Josepha of Portugal--de Bragança (1857). His sister in law was thus the Princess Elizabeth.

Siblings

Prince Rupprecht and Maria Gabriele had four children, only one of which survived to adulthood. The children were very elegantly dressed as boys in early 20th century. Their clothing looks much like that ofthe Belgian princes at about the same time. Notably the mother of the Belgian princes was Princess Elizabeth who was to become the queen of Belgium. Luitpold was born in 1901. We have little information on Luitpold and his childhood. We do have several portraits of him and we thus know a lot about how he was dressed. His mother chose a variety of very fancy outfits. He died tragically in 1914. Irmingard was born in 1902, but died as an infant in 1903. Albrecht (Albert) was born in 1905 and became Duke of Bavaria in the geological line, although he never reigned. He married Countess Maria Draskovich at Berchetesgaden in 1930. Rudolf was born in 1909. Rudolf dies after only 3 years in 1912.

Childhood

Albrecht or Albert in English was born in 1905. We have little information on Albrecht and his childhood.


Figure 2.--Prince Albrecht here wears a satin suit with short pants and long stockings. I'm not sure what color it was. He looks about 8-9 years old which would make it about 1913-14.

Clothing

We do have several portraits of him and we thus know a lot about how he was dressed. His mother chose a variety of very fancy outfits. He must have worn dresses as a younger child, although we do not have portraits conforming this. He wore satin suits with kneepants. He also wore a knickers suit with lace collar. Quite a number outfits show him wearing large lace collars. There were also sailor suits. These appear to be some of the few long pants outfits that he wore. Often the outfits were coordinated with those of his brother Luitpold. There were also Bavarian folk cotumes. Luitpold died in 1914.

Coordinated Outfits

Luitplod wore outfits that were often coordinated with those of his brother Albrecht. On first glance the outfits look identical, but in many cases there are differences between similar looking garments. We presume that many of these differences are not just random. Luitpold in several instances, for example, wear below the knee knickers suits while Albrecht wears above the knee kneepants. There were many other differences that seem puposefully selected to reflect the fact that Luitpold was 4 years older. Other differences may be random. We do not know Luitpold raised issues concerning his outfits or rather they were simply something his mother decided on without consulting him. We note that Luitpold only began wearing more mature outfits like an Eton suit after his mother's death. Some of the few outfits that were identical were sailor suits and lederhosen folk costumes.

Relationship with Luitpold

We note a lot of images of Luitpold by himslf. We note relatively few images of Albrecht by himself--at least when Luitpold was still alive. He is almost always pictured with Luipold. This suggets that the boys were very close as children. We do not, however, yet have detals to confirm this. There is a considerable age gap between the two, as they were born in 1901 and 1905. Four years is quite a difference for boys of their age. Even so as they were brought up together and probably had limited interactions with other children, they probably were quite close. Hopefully we will aqcquire more details about the family as we expand our website.

Hair Styles

There seems to have been less attention give to hair styling than clothing. Prince Albrecht, like his older brother Luitpold, in all the images we have seems to have rather short hair, commonly cut in bangs. Albrict's bangs are no sharply cut and are often rather unruly, in contast to his often elegant outfits. The boys never had long hair, although as younger boys their hair was over their ears. While some images show him with his hair over his ears, but none with extremely long hair or ringlets. This was the case even when he was very young. Gradually as he got older his hair was cut shorter and shorter. His older brother when he was about 12 or 13 got a short hair cut, the same was probably true of Albricht. Noe of the boys wore shaved or even cropped hair as we have observed elsewhere in Germany.

World War I (1914-18)

World War I was disaterous for both the German people and German royalty. The Kaiser was forced to abdicate and flee to Holland. The other German royals also abdicated in the face of republican revolution. King Ludwig III abdicated ???, 1918. The end of the monarchy meant tht Prince Rupert and Albrecht no longer had prospects of becoming king.

Agreement with the Bavarian Government

After the creation of the new German Republic ar Weimar (1919), the question emerged as to what property belonged to the various royal families and what belonged to the state. The Wittelsbachs after some negotiation reached an agreement with the Bavarian state government (1923). The family was regonized as the owners of various properties which included both palaces and castles and substantial forest and agricultural holdings. They were also granted residency rights in palaces and properties awarded to the Bavarian government. Individual members of the family were provided apartments in various residences.

Residences

The various royal family used several different residences and moved a good deal between them, depending on the season and social enggements. As Bavarians most family members continued living in Bavaria, especially in southern Bavaria. The primary residence was Leuchtenberg Palace. King Rupert and Queen Antonia continued to maintain Leuchtenberg Palace as their official residence. Leuchtenberg Palace is located symbocially at the center of Munich, the Bavarian capital. Like other German royals, there was still the hope that the monarchy might be restored. Republican government was new to the Germans. From the very beginning there were elements in Germany that were opposed to the Weimar Republic. Monarchial sentiment was especially strong in the military. The prominent location of Leuchtenberg Palace was a constant reminder to Bavarians that the royal family was still available.

Adult Life

Albrecht is the only one of Rupprecht's children to live to adulthood. He became Duke of Bavaria in the geological line, although he never reigned.

Marriage (1930)

Albrecht married Countess Maria Draskovich at the family summer palace at Berchetesgaden in 1930. (This was before Hitler built his retreat there.) Prince Albert used the family residence at Wildbad Kreuth, a country estate about 50 km south of Munich. The estate was actually was owned by his uncle, Duke Ludwig Wilhelm. Albert loved the estate and developed an interest in deer and deer management.

Children

The royal couple had four children: Marie (1931- ), Marie Charlotte (1931- ), Franz (1933- ), Max Emanuel, Duke of Bavaria (1937- ). We are not sure what happened to Franz, Max Emanuel became the heritary duke. Max-Emanuel Ludwig Maria Herzog in Bayern is sometimes styled Prince Max of Bavaria. He is the the heir presumptive to both the former Bavarian Royal House and the Jacobite Succession. He married Countess Elizabeth Douglas in a civil ceremony in Kreuth (1967). They had five daughters: Sophie, Marie-Caroline, Helena, Elizabeth, and Maria Anna.

World War II

Albrecht's father from the beginning had been opposed to the NAZIs. Albrecht shared his father's distaste for the NAZIs. Like his father he managed to escapr from Germany. Albrecht and the family moved to Hungary (1939). They lived for a short time at Vép, the home of Prince Laszlo Esterhazy a relative of Marita. Vép was close to Sárvár where Albrecht's uncle Franz lived. After a brief time they moved to Budapest a rented an apatment owned byanother relative of Marita. Hungary was a NAZI ally and a junior Axis partner. Albert and his family remained in Hungary which was still an independent country even after entering the War. Albrecht decided to move the family when the Allies began bombing Budapest (1943). Another of Marita's cousins, Count Peter Erdödy, offered the family the hospitality of Somlovár Castle near Sárvár (November 1943). The political situation changed when the Hungarian Government tried to negotiate peace with the Allies. The NAZis seized control of the Hungarian Government. The NAZIs used the opportunity to arrest Albrecht and his family. They were transported to the Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. The NAZIs had facilities at even dreadful camps like Sachsenhausen for special prisonors where the living conditions were survivable. These included people like the families of German POWs working for the Russians or the families of individuals arrested for participating in the attempted assaination of Hitler (July 1944). The family was held in a house adjacent to the one where Albrecht's half-sisters were being held. The Gestapo was searching for their father and half-brother Henry in Italy, but was unable to find them. They wanted to try King Ruppert for trumped up charges of supplying information on bombing targets to the British.







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Created: May 5, 2002
Last updated: 7:50 PM 7/28/2008