1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:16,479 Speaker 1: show that uncovers a little bit more about history every day. 4 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, we're looking at 5 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: the enduring mystery surrounding the death of King Ludwig the Second, 6 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: a polarizing patron of the arts who preferred building castles 7 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: to ruling a kingdom. We'll try to get a sense 8 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: for what caused Ludwig's downfall, as well as why nobody 9 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: complains about the cost of his castles anymore. As a 10 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: quick warning, today's episode includes mention of suicide, which some 11 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: listeners may find upsetting. The day was June thirteenth, eighteen 12 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: eighty six. The body of Bavarian King Ludvig the Second 13 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: was found floating in Lake Starnberg, just south of Munich. 14 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: The eccentric king, known for his love of fairytale architecture, 15 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: was just forty years old at the time of his passing. 16 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: His cause of death was recorded as suicide by drowning, 17 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: but the details of his death suggest a different story 18 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: for starters. The water Ludwig was found in was only 19 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: waist deep, and although he was claimed to have purposely 20 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: drowned in it. The autopsy revealed there was no water 21 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: in his lungs. Of course, the question then became, if 22 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: Ludwig the Second didn't end his own life, who did. 23 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: The future king was born on August twenty fifth, eighteen 24 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: forty five, to Prince Maximilian the Second of Bavaria and 25 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: his wife, Princess Marie of Prussia. His only sibling, Otto, 26 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: was born three years later. The family home was Schloss 27 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: Owen Schwongal, a stocky medieval castle in the southwest of 28 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: the kingdom. It was originally built in the twelfth century, 29 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: destroyed by Napoleon in the early nineteenth and then rebuilt 30 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: by Ludwig's father in the eighteen thirties. Ludwig and his 31 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: brother were both raised very strictly, but their parents were 32 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: especially tough on Ludwig the crown prince. He was subjected 33 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: to a strict regimen of study and exercise, but found 34 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: himself much more interested in art and architecture than he 35 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: was in matters of state. He was in no hurry 36 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: then to become king, but when his father died unexpectedly 37 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty four, Ludwig found himself on the Bavarian 38 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: throne at age eighteen. It would have been a difficult 39 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: transition for anyone, but for Ludwig, a closeted, gay king, 40 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: the pressure to take a wife weighed especially heavy. In 41 00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: deference to his Catholic faith, Ludwig suppressed his sexuality and 42 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:04,799 Speaker 1: eventually agreed to marry a woman, Duchess Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria. 43 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: The pair were betrothed in eighteen sixty seven, but after 44 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: several postponements, Ludwig finally called off the union altogether. He 45 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 1: continued to have close friendships with men for the rest 46 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: of his life, but he never married anyone. When it 47 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: came to politics, Ludwig remained largely indifferent, choosing to carry 48 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: on his father's policies and leaving most of the details 49 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: to his ministers. This freed up the young king to 50 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: focus full time on other pursuits, such as his love 51 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: of romantic literature and operas, most notably those of Richard Wagner, 52 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: a personal friend of the king. During his two decades 53 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: on the throne, Ludwig also developed a passion for building 54 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: lavish fantasy castles in the Bavarian mountains. He entrusted the 55 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: projects to theatrical set designers rather than to architects, and 56 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: the result was a series of ornately detailed structures ripped 57 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: right from the pages of a storybook. In eighteen sixty nine, 58 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: for example, the king began construction on the Linderhoff Palace, 59 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: which was modeled on Le Grand Trianon in France. It 60 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: was surrounded by fountains and Italian style gardens, and even 61 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 1: included a private grotto theater where the reclusive king could 62 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: enjoy an opera performed solely for him. Notably, the first 63 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: electricity in Bavaria was generated right there in Ludwig's artificial lake. 64 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 1: The energy was used to change the colors of the 65 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 1: stage lights, and of course, to power Ludwig's fountain and 66 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: wave machine. Once the Linderhoof was completed in eighteen seventy eight, 67 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 1: Ludwig wasted no time launching another castle building project. This one, 68 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: dubbed harn Keemzi Castle, was a tribute to Versailles, complete 69 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: with all the extravagance and grandeur one might expect. However, 70 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: that kind of detailing didn't come cheap, and the mounting 71 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: costs soon became a source of serious concern to Ludwig's 72 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 1: ministers and to his mother Marie. By the early eighteen eighties, 73 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: the king had withdrawn from society almost completely. He lived 74 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 1: full time at Linderhoff and had become such a hermit 75 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 1: that he rigged up his dinner table to rise up 76 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,719 Speaker 1: from the kitchen below, pre set with food, so that 77 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: he wouldn't have to interact with his servants. King Ludwig 78 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: the Second rarely bothered to appear at social and state functions, 79 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: and devoted nearly all his time to checking and approving 80 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: the various details of his construction projects. That building mania 81 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: earned him a host of colorful nicknames, including the Fairytale 82 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: King and the mad King. By that point, Ludwig had 83 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:57,039 Speaker 1: already drained the royal coffers, leaving Bavaria on the brink 84 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: of bankruptcy. Nonetheless, in eighteen eighty six, the king had 85 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: the gaul to ask his ministers for more funding, this 86 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: time for his most ambitious project yet, a breath taking 87 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: mountain side castle called Neuschwanstein or New Swanstone in English. 88 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,840 Speaker 1: As you might expect, Bavaria's ministers turned down the king's request, 89 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:27,039 Speaker 1: but also as you might expect, Ludwig proceeded anyway. He 90 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: burned through his personal fortune and started soliciting private loans 91 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: from other German statesmen, including Otto von Bismarck. He ultimately 92 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: succeeded in funding the castle, but his persistence exasperated his ministers, 93 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: leading them to hatch a plan to remove him from power. 94 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: They made their move on June tenth, eighteen eighty six, 95 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: when a state appointed panel of doctors declared the king insane. 96 00:06:54,760 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 1: The official diagnosis, according to psychiatrist Bernhard von Guden, was paranoia, 97 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: a condition which roughly aligned with what we call schizophrenia today. 98 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: Ludwig refuted the declaration outright, insisting that the doctors were 99 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: making up his mental condition as part of a political coup. 100 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: No one listened, however, and two days later the king's 101 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: worst fears were confirmed. On June twelfth, he was arrested 102 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: and imprisoned at Berg Palace on the east bank of 103 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: Lake Starnberg. He was found dead there the very next day. 104 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: According to contemporary accounts, King Ludwig the Second disappeared while 105 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: out for a walk with his physician, doctor Guden. A 106 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 1: few hours later, the king's corpse was recovered from the 107 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: lake and In a stunning twist, so was the body 108 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: of doctor Gouden. The King's death was ruled as suicide, 109 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: but that failed to explain what had happened to the doctor. 110 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: The mystery led many people to second guess the official narration. 111 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: Maybe they imagined the king had actually tried to escape 112 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 1: from the doctor, only to fall or perhaps be pushed 113 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: into the water, and if that were the case, then 114 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: maybe Gouden died trying to rescue the king, or maybe 115 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: he was pulled down during a desperate struggle. Of course, 116 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 1: none of those explanations accounted for the men drowning in 117 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: such shallow water, nor did they explain the lack of 118 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: water in their lungs. A more compelling theory held that 119 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,080 Speaker 1: Ludwig was shot by an assassin prior to falling into 120 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: the water, and that Guden was then killed as well, 121 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: to prevent the truth from leaking out. To this day, 122 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: the German government has refused calls to exum and examine 123 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:49,079 Speaker 1: Ludwig's remains for signs of foul play, and while that's 124 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:53,199 Speaker 1: certainly frustrating for history fans, there's reason to think Ludwig 125 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: himself might have preferred the ambiguity as he once declared, 126 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:02,320 Speaker 1: quote I wished to remain an eternal enigma to myself 127 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 1: and to others. That wish has largely been granted. But 128 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: one aspect of Ludwig's life that did not remain hidden 129 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 1: were his beloved fairytale castles. A little over a month 130 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:19,440 Speaker 1: after his death, Ludwig's palatial estates were opened to the 131 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: public as museums, partly as a way to recoup the 132 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: excessive costs of their construction. Paying tourists continued to flock 133 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: to Ludwig's castles well into the twentieth century, and one 134 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: of the most famous visitors from that era was none 135 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,720 Speaker 1: other than Walt Disney. He and his wife Lillian embarked 136 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: on a two month long European tour in nineteen thirty five. 137 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: In one of their stops was Neus schwan Stein Castle 138 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: in the rugged alpine foothills of Bavaria. Like many others 139 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: before him, Disney was enchanted by the storybook castle, But 140 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: unlike those other guests, he eventually decided to replicate the 141 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: design for himself. When it came time to design Sleeping 142 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: Beauty's Castle for Disneyland, Walt thought back to his vacation 143 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,200 Speaker 1: and took a page from Ludwig the Second, So if 144 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: you ever find yourself in Bavaria or in Anaheim and 145 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: you pay a visit to the local castle, be sure 146 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: to give a nod of thanks to the original fairytale king. 147 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little 148 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd 149 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: like to keep up with the show, you can follow 150 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, 151 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free 152 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,199 Speaker 1: to pass them along by writing to this Day at 153 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:49,720 Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett 154 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 155 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 156 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,200 Speaker 1: in History class Chi