| Franz von Bayern | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Franz in 2023 | |
| Head of theHouse of Wittelsbach | |
| Tenure | 8 July 1996 – present |
| Predecessor | Albrecht |
| Heir presumptive | Max-Emanuel |
| Born | Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Prinz von Bayern (1933-07-14)14 July 1933 (age 91) Munich, Germany |
| House | Wittelsbach |
| Father | Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria |
| Mother | Countess Maria Draskovich of Trakostjan |
| Religion | Catholicism |
Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern (born 14 July 1933), commonly known by thecourtesy titleDuke of Bavaria, is the head of theHouse of Wittelsbach, the former ruling family of theKingdom of Bavaria. His great-grandfatherKing Ludwig III was the last ruling monarch of Bavaria, beingdeposed in 1918.
Franz was born inMunich. During theSecond World War, the Wittelsbachs wereanti-Nazi.[1] The family initially leftNazi Germany for theKingdom of Hungary but were eventually arrested followingOperation Panzerfaust in 1944. Franz, who was only 11 at the time, spent time in severalNazi concentration camps, includingSachsenhausen, thenFlossenbürg and finallyDachau.[1]
After the war, Franz was a student at theUniversity of Munich and became a collector ofmodern art. Franz succeeded as head of the House of Wittelsbach, and aspretender to the Bavarian throne, on the death of his father in 1996. He lives atNymphenburg Palace in Munich andBerg Palace.[2]
In theJacobite succession, Franz is heir to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland, which he does not pursue.[3]
Franz was born on 14 July 1933 inMunich, as the third child and elder son ofAlbrecht, Duke of Bavaria, and his first wife, Countess Maria (Marita) Draskovich of Trakostjan, member of theHouse of Drašković, an oldCroatian noble family. As Maria's family did not belong to the small circle ofreigning orformer reigning families, his parents' marriage was initially consideredmorganatic. But, on 18 May 1949, when Franz was 15, his grandfatherCrown Prince Rupprecht recognised the marriage of Franz's parents asdynastic, and Franz became a successor to the headship of the house.[citation needed]
The Wittelsbach dynasty were opposed to theNazi regime in Germany. The former Crown Prince Rupprecht earned Hitler's enmity by opposing theBeer Hall Putsch in 1923. In 1933, shortly afterAdolf Hitler's rise to power, he sent his son Albrecht to PresidentPaul 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 toHungary with his family. From 1935 to 1939 the family returned to Bavaria and lived in seclusion inKreuth, but former crown prince Rupprecht emigrated to Italy in 1939 and his son Albrecht and his family moved back toBudapest, where they stayed in a rented apartment in theCastle 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.[4]
In March 1944,Nazi Germanyoccupied Hungary, and on 6 October 1944 the entire family, including the 11-year-old Franz, were arrested by theGestapo. They were sent to a series ofNazi concentration camps, includingOranienburg,Flossenbürg andDachau. As special prisoners, they were allowed to stay together and were locked in separate buildings. Franz remembers that they only received one slice of bread, often moldy, per person per day as food. Badly hit by hunger and disease, the family barely survived.[5] At the end of April 1945, they were liberated by theUnited States Third Army.[6]
After the war, Franz received his secondary education at the BenedictineAbbey of Ettal. He then studied business management at theUniversity of Munich and inZürich. With his father and a sister, he took part in the ship tours organized by KingPaul of Greece andQueen Frederica in 1954 and 1956, which became known as the "Cruise of the Kings" and were attended by over 100 royals from all over Europe.[7]
Franz developed a passion formodern art and started to collect contemporary German art. He brought his own important art collection with early works byJoseph Beuys,Georg Baselitz andBlinky Palermo as well as numerous contemporary German painters such asJörg Immendorff andSigmar Polke on permanent loan to thePinakothek der Moderne inMunich,[8] which he had worked to found for decades, as well as to theMunich State Graphic Collection. He is chairman of the Association for the Promotion of theAlte 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 theGlyptothek and the Bavarianstate collections of antiquities and honorary president of the Friends of theEgyptian Collection Munich. In 2009, he left his extensive private library of 20th and 21st century art to theCentral Institute for Art History in Munich.
Because of his good connections in theNew York City art scene, his understanding of art, his international connections as well as his fate during the Nazi era, Franz von Bayern was the first German to be elected to the International Council of theMuseum of Modern Art,[1] where numerous Jewish emigrants set the tone. Only after him were other Germans elected to the advisory committee. He eventually became chairman of the International Council for 16 years and worked closely with the museum's president,Blanchette Rockefeller, in expanding the collection in the 1980s.[9] Despite his friendship with American artists such asJasper Johns,Robert Rauschenberg,Andy Warhol andDan Flavin, he privately collected mostly contemporary German art: "American art was always one step ahead of my financial possibilities."[10]
In 2003, for his decades of support work, he was the first European to receive theDuncan Phillips Award from the Washington art museumPhillips Collection, which has been awarded to collectors and donors who support museums since 1999.
The respective head of the House of Wittelsbach appoints the board of directors of the foundationWittelsbach Compensation Fund, into which most of the possessions from the formerWittelsbach House Property Fund were transferred in 1923, including art treasures and collections (in particular the art collection of KingLudwig I, today mostly in the museumsAlte Pinakothek andNeue Pinakothek and in theGlyptothek in Munich), theSecret House Archives (today a department of the Bavarian State Archives) and the former royal palaces ofBerg,Hohenschwangau (including theMuseum of the Bavarian Kings),Berchtesgaden as well as Grünau hunting lodge. He also appoints one of the board members of theWittelsbach 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 theWittelsbach Compensation Fund. The respective head of the family decides on their distribution and use.[11]
As head of the House of Wittelsbach, Franz is also Grand Master of the WittelsbachHouse Orders, theOrder of Saint George, theOrder of St. Hubert and theOrder of Theresa. Furthermore, he is president of the Bavarian Order Provinces of the Knights'Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and of theSovereign Military Order of Malta.
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 theLudwig Maximilian University of Munich, theTechnical University of Munich, theMunich School of Philosophy, theDeutsches Museum and the Institute for Bavarian History. As a patron, he heads numerous other organizations, such as the Bavarian Sports Shooting Association.[12]
There is traditionally a close connection between the House of Wittelsbach and theRoman Catholic Church, especially with the respectiveArchbishop of Munich, but also with various orders such as theBenedictines andFranciscans. Franz worked voluntarily for many years in the management of theCatholic Academy in Bavaria. He expanded these relationships through contacts with theEvangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and the Jewish communities in Bavaria. In 2007 he institutionalized this network as co-founder of theNymphenburg Talks, a platform forintercultural andinterfaith dialogue that also includes Muslim representatives.[12]
Franz maintained the tradition founded by his father of holding a large annual reception with a sit-down dinner atNymphenburg 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.[13] 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 theSchleissheim Palace near Munich. The party was attended by 2,500 guests,[14] including the then-incumbentMinister-President of Bavaria,Horst Seehofer.[15]
Franz has had a life partner since 1980, Thomas Greinwald, although they have never married.[16] In August 2011, the duke appeared atPrince George Frederick of Prussia's wedding, accompanied by Greinwald and his first cousin once removed – and future heir – Prince Ludwig. He and Greinwald first appeared publicly as a couple in Munich in 2023.[17] Theheir presumptive to the headship of theHouse of Wittelsbach is his brotherPrince Max, Duke in Bavaria. Because Max has five daughters but no sons, he is followed in the Bavarian line of succession by his and Franz's first cousin (second cousin in themale line)Prince Luitpold[18] and, in the next generation, by the latter's son Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (born 1982).
Franz is a descendant of theHouse of Stuart. Were it not for theAct of Settlement 1701,Franz would be the successor to the English, Scottish, and Irish crowns of the Stuart kings.[3] Franz's 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.[3] In his memoirs, Franz describes this claim to the British throne as a "charming historical curiosity."[19]
Franz is traditionally styled as His Royal Highness the Duke of Bavaria, ofFranconia and inSwabia,[20]Count Palatine of the Rhine.[21][14][22][23]
Franz was styledPrinz von Bayern at birth.[24] In 1996, after the death of his father, he changed his style toHerzog von Bayern ('Duke of Bavaria').[25]
Germany: Commander's cross (Großes Verdienstkreuz) of theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany[26][27][28]
Holy See: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of theOrder of the Holy Sepulchre
Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Protector Bailiff Knight Grand Cross ofObedience of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, 1st ClassSovereign Military Order of Malta: Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit
Romania: Knight Grand Cross of theNational Order of Merit[29][30]
House of Habsburg-Lorraine: Knight of theOrder of the Golden Fleece,1960[31]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Franz von Bayern Born: 14 July 1933 | ||
| Titles in pretence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | — TITULAR — King of Bavaria 8 July 1996 – present Reason for succession failure: Kingdom abolished in 1918 | Incumbent Heir presumptive: Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria |
| — TITULAR — King of England, Scotland and Ireland 8 July 1996 – present Reason for succession failure: Act of Settlement | ||
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