Figure 1.--This portrait of Prince Rupprecht's son Luitpold was probably taken about 1913, shortly before his untimely death. He certainly looks healthy. He looks to be about 12 years old. He wears a dark satin knicker suit with a large pointed lace collar.

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 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 Albrecht. There were also Bavarian folk cotumes. Luitpold died in 1914. I'm not sure what the circumstances were of his early death.

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

Luitpold was born in 1901. We have little information on Luitpold and his childhood. Mos of what we know is deduced from the photographic record. While we can find little information, there is a wealth of mostly formal portraits.

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 Albrecht. There were also Bavarian folk cotumes. Prince Luitpold as a younger boy wore short white socks with dresses or short kneepants outfits. As an older boy he commonly wore long stockings, bith dark and light-colored, with fancy satin suits. We note dark kneesocks ith the Bavarian folk lederhosen outfits. We note as an older boy Luitpold wore buckle shoes with fany dark satin shoes. He also wore fancy light colored shoes when wearing light long stockings with light-colored satin suits. We have not noted any strap shoes.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 th 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.

Hair Styles

Prince Luitpold in all the images we have seems to have rather short hair, commonly cut in bangs. Some images show him with his hair over his ears. As a younger boys his hair almost, but never quite reached hi shoulders. We have not noted any images with extremely long hair or ringlets. We do not, however, have any portraits taken when he was very young. His hair got gradully shorter as he got older.

Relationship with Albrecht

We note a lot of images of Luitpold by himslf. We note fewer images of Albrecht by himself. He is almost always pictured with Luitpold, at least while Luitpold was sill alive. 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 cap 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.

Relatives

The Bavarian royal family had connections with many other European royals. It is interesting to see how similarly royals from different countries were dressed. We note portraits of Prince Luitpold with other European royals. This included portraits with his royal cousins. We note a portrait of Prince Luitpold with his first cousins, Maria Antoinetta, Maria Cristina, Barbara, Lucie and Urraca of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The little boy in the group wee beklieve is Luitpold's brother, Prince Albrecht. The princesses' mother was Princess Maria of Bavaria who married the Duke of Calabria in 1897. (Maria's only son, Ruggerio, died in 1914, at the age of 13.) Another portrait shows Prince Luitpold with his maternal first cousins, Leopold and Marie José of Belgium. Their mother, Queen Elisabeth, and Albrecht's mother, Marie-Gabriele, were sisters.

Death

Prince Luitpold died in 1914. I do not have any details except that he cotracted polio. He may have entred a military academy and contracted it there, but I do not yet have details. We do know that around the turn-of-the 20th century, polio became a major disease affecting children. It became the most serious childhood disease in Europe and America. What is also interesting is that Luitpold's mother and two siblings also died too soon. Only his younger brother Albrecht survived. We have been trying to get more information for years. The Wittelsbacher are one of the most fascinating of the royal families of Europe. It has always struck me as strange that, except for the Swann King, Ludwig II, there is little information about the family. It was through Luitpold that the Jacobite claim to the British throne ran also.

Created: May 5, 2002
Last updated: 4:16 AM 1/15/2006