Franz von Bayern
Franz von Bayern | |
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Catholicism |
Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern (born 14 July 1933), commonly known by the
Franz was born in
After the war, Franz was a student at the
Birth, exile, captivity, and education
Franz was born on 14 July 1933 in
The Wittelsbach dynasty were opposed to the Nazi regime in Germany. The former Crown Prince Rupprecht earned Hitler's enmity by opposing the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. In 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, he sent his son Albrecht to President Paul von Hindenburg with a protest letter strongly objecting to the appointment of governors at the head of the federal states and thus the de facto abolition of German federalism. In July 1934, Prince Albrecht emigrated to Hungary with his family. From 1935 to 1939 the family returned to Bavaria and lived in seclusion in Kreuth, but former crown prince Rupprecht emigrated to Italy in 1939 and his son Albrecht and his family moved back to Budapest, where they stayed in a rented apartment in the Castle Quarter. They often visited Princess Marita's Hungarian and Croatian relatives in the countryside. The children received private lessons after a visit to the German school failed after a few weeks because it was dominated by Nazi supporters.[3]
In March 1944,
After the war, Franz received his secondary education at the Benedictine
Patron of modern art
Franz developed a passion for modern art and started to collect contemporary German art. He brought his own important art collection with early works by Joseph Beuys, Georg Baselitz and Blinky Palermo as well as numerous contemporary German painters such as Jörg Immendorff and Sigmar Polke on permanent loan to the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich,[7] which he had worked to found for decades, as well as to the Munich State Graphic Collection. He is chairman of the Association for the Promotion of the Alte Pinakothek, co-founder and deputy chairman of the Munich Gallery Association, member of the board of trustees of the Association of Friends and Supporters of the Glyptothek and the Bavarian state collections of antiquities and honorary president of the Friends of the Egyptian Collection Munich. In 2009, he left his extensive private library of 20th and 21st century art to the Central Institute for Art History in Munich.
Because of his good connections in the
In 2003, for his decades of support work, he was the first European to receive the Duncan Phillips Award from the Washington art museum
Further activities
The respective head of the House of Wittelsbach appoints the board of directors of the foundation Wittelsbach Compensation Fund, into which most of the possessions from the former Wittelsbach House Property Fund were transferred in 1923, including art treasures and collections (in particular the art collection of King Ludwig I, today mostly in the museums Alte Pinakothek and Neue Pinakothek and in the Glyptothek in Munich), the Secret House Archives (today a department of the Bavarian State Archives) and the former royal palaces of Berg, Hohenschwangau (including the Museum of the Bavarian Kings), Berchtesgaden as well as Grünau hunting lodge. He also appoints one of the board members of the Wittelsbach State Foundation for Art and Science, into which the Wittelsbach art treasures acquired before 1800 were brought in in 1923. Since then, this foundation has owned a large part of the holdings of the Munich museums. The former Bavarian Royal Family receives around 14 million Euros in payments annually from the proceeds of the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund. The respective head of the family decides on their distribution and use.[10]
As head of the House of Wittelsbach, Franz is also Grand Master of the Wittelsbach
In addition to modern art and contemporary music, Franz' interest lies in the sciences, where he supported the development and expansion of the Bavarian research landscape. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Technical University of Munich, the Munich School of Philosophy, the Deutsches Museum and the Institute for Bavarian History. As a patron, he heads numerous other organizations, such as the Bavarian Sports Shooting Association.[11]
There is traditionally a close connection between the House of Wittelsbach and the
Franz maintained the tradition founded by his father of holding a large annual reception with a sit-down dinner at Nymphenburg Palace where he lives in a side-wing. Around 1,500 mostly changing guests from state politics, municipalities, churches and sciences, art and medicine as well as friends and relatives are invited.[12] He also invites smaller groups of changing guests to Berchtesgaden Palace to discuss specific topics that are important to him.
His 80th birthday party, in 2013, was held at the
Personal life and succession
Franz has had a life partner since 1980, Thomas Greinwald, although they have never married.
Franz is a descendant of the House of Stuart. Were it not for the Act of Settlement 1701, Franz would be the successor to the British and Irish crowns of the Stuart kings.[18] Franz' spokesman has, however, made it clear that this is a purely "hypothetical issue", "an entirely British question which does not concern him" and not a claim that he pursues.[18] In his memoirs, Franz describes this claim to the British throne as a "charming historical curiosity."[19]
Titles, styles and honours
Titles and styles
Franz is traditionally styled as His Royal Highness the Duke of Bavaria, of
[22] [23]Franz was styled Prinz von Bayern at birth.[24] In 1996, after the death of his father, he changed his style to Herzog von Bayern ('Duke of Bavaria').[25]
Honours
- Germany: Commander's cross (Großes Verdienstkreuz) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany[26][27][28]
- Vatican: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
- Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Protector Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Obedience of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, 1st Class
- Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit
- Romania: Knight Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit[29][30]
- House of Habsburg: Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 1960[31]
- Scotland: Current pretender to the throne of the United Kingdom according to the Jacobite claim.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Cowell, Alan (11 July 1996). "Duke Albrecht Is Dead at 91; Pretender to Bavarian Throne". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- ^ "The blue-blooded Bavarian Duke". www.thelocal.de. The Local. 25 July 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ISBN 978-3-406-79710-1.
- ISBN 978-3-406-79710-1.
- ^ Hamilton, Tom (8 April 2008). "German Duke could claim Scots throne". The Daily Record. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- ISBN 978-3-406-79710-1.
- ^ Carla Schulz-Hoffmann and Peter-Klaus Schuster, Deutsche Kunst seit 1960 aus der Sammlung Prinz Franz von Bayern (München: Prestel-Verlag, 1985).
- ISBN 978-3-406-79710-1.
- ISBN 978-3-406-79710-1.
- ^ Heirs of the Bavarian kings still collect millions (German article in Süddeutsche Zeitung, 6 February 2016)
- ^ ISBN 978-3-406-79710-1.
- ISBN 978-3-406-79710-1.
- ^ a b "The blue-blooded Bavarian Duke". the local.de. 25 July 2013.
- ^ "Party fit for a king". The Local.de. 25 July 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- ^ "Who is the Duke of Bavaria, the pioneering German prince who could have been a King of England?". Tatler. 7 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
- ^ Guyton, Patrick (20 April 2023). "Franz Herzog von Bayern stellt seinen Lebenspartner vor – nach 43 Jahren (Franz Duke of Bavaria introduces his life partner - after 43 years)". Rheinische Post (in German). Retrieved 21 April 2023.
- ^ Genealogie des Hauses Wittelsbach. München: Verwaltung des Herzogs von Bayern, 2000.
- ^ Daily Telegraph. Archived from the originalon 17 June 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
- ISBN 978-3-406-79710-1.
- ^ The title assumed by the Kings of Bavaria was Duke in Swabia, with the in indicating that only parts of the Swabian territory was ruled by them, while the larger parts of Swabia were part of the Kingdom of Württemberg. Unlike their other title Duke of Franconia which made clear that the whole of Franconia had become part of the Bavarian kingdom.
- ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Band 50, Fürstliche Häuser, Band IX, Limburg an der Lahn 1971, S. 7
- ^ "Hilpoltstein-Botschafter-des-Landkreises". Donaukurier. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- ^ "Musikalisches-Geschlecht". Die Welt. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Band 50, Fürstliche Häuser Band IX. Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke, 1971, page 7.
- ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Band 141, Fürstliche Häuser Band XVIII. Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke, 2007, page 2.
- ^ "Der Bundespräsident / Terminkalender / Ordensverleihung an Franz Herzog von Bayern". Bundespraesident.de (in German). Retrieved 26 July 2017.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Photographic image" (JPG). Merkur.de. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
- ^ "Verleihung des Verdienstordens von Rumänien an Herzog Franz von Bayern | BOTSCHAFT VON RUMÄNIEN in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland". Berlin.mae.ro. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
- ^ "Photographic image" (JPG). Berlin.mae.ro. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
- ^ Boettger, T. F. "Chevaliers de la Toisón d'Or - Knights of the Golden Fleece". La Confrérie Amicale. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
Bibliography
- Adalbert, Prinz von Bayern. Die Wittelsbacher: Geschichte unserer Familie. München: Prestel, 1979.