Gay "Swan King" Ludwig II, was he murdered?

Questions still linger about the circumstances of his and the psychiatrist's death. As for the king's supposed insanity, his homosexuality and extravagant spending on fantastical projects appear now to be the greater factors in his deposition as king. The psychiatrist did not examine him personally before he declared him insane. The king may have had what today would be diagnosed as a personality disorder.

Mad OR Murdered?

Why not both? That's what I believe.

Visconti made a beautiful movie about him, btw.

Visconti's epic 4-hour movie (it's the gay Gone With the Wind) just got a restoration and is making the rounds.

Didn’t he nearly or fully bankrupt his state of Bavaria via his exorbitant spending on new castles?

And Bavaria was a very rich state, so to bankrupt it was quite a feat.

I bet a lot of people weren’t too happy with his ‘shopping spree’...

I visited the castle as a child and loved it. I have a print of this Gerhard Richter to remind me.

[quote]Visconti's epic 4-hour movie (it's the gay Gone With the Wind) just got a restoration and is making the rounds.

Can't WAIT I rewatched The Leopard recently.

He was also one of the world's first great Opera Queens, and shovelled a shit ton of money to Richard Wagner, who burned through it like water.

The castle has now paid for itself many times over, due to visitor revenue.

Tasteful Friends..

Except all the taxpayers / subjects who paid for it are now long dead, R8. So not really much of a return on investment for them...

Agree it’s a beautiful castle though.

While visiting Germany last summer with my children, I took us to explore Neuschwanstein Castle at the request of my teenage daughter. There is nothing else like it -- it is THE quintessential pointy-spired fairy tale castle hanging off the side of a cliff--a totally breathtaking miracle!

Having said that, the castle's interior VERY clearly reads as a fever dream of a restless and manic shopaholic with pathological escapist tendencies.

I purchased a little reproduction booklet in the gift shop written by a contemporary of King Ludwig's, who asserted emphatically that his friend the king was indeed murdered, and outlined the clues and theories as to why he felt this way. He didn't deny that the King had been out of control but beautifully conveyed his frustration and pain at the sad and scary ended his friend endured. A really fascinating little read.

My favorite indulgence of King Ludwig II's is the manmade Grotto of Venus. Hands-down. It has been referred to as a "grand opera set made flesh."

"Ludwig lived much of his last eight years at Linderhof. Frustrated by the limits of being a constitutional monarch, he retreated here, inhabiting a private fantasy world where his lavishness glorified his otherwise weakened kingship. He lived as a royal hermit; his dinner table — pre-set with dishes and food — rose from the kitchen below into his dining room so he could eat alone.

Beyond the palace is Ludwig's grotto, a private theater for the reclusive king to enjoy his beloved Wagnerian operas — he was usually the sole member of the audience. The grotto features a waterfall, fake stalactites, and a swan boat floating on an artificial lake. The first electricity in Bavaria was generated here, to change the colors of the stage lights and to power Ludwig's fountain and wave machine." -Rick Steves

Ludvig wasn't crazy, but he was such a shitty king that they had to find some way to remove him from power and keep him from blowing the treasury on fripperies while the country went to wrack and ruin.

He really was a terrible king, not just eccentric, lazy, and irresponsible, but so paralyzingly shy he was worthless at any public duties. At state dinners he'd put huge bouquets on either side of his place so that he wouldn't have to talk to anyone, thereby offending all the royal guests. The people who were actually running the government kept taking steps to prevent him from taking the money they needed to run things and blowing it on castles and operas, but Ludwig got around them all and ruined the country financially. They finally had him declared insane to protect the government from financial collapse, and if they had him killed as well I can see why. Anyone who's been around such an obsessive and irresponsible person wants to kill them.

Hear! Hear! R13

Yeah, gayface visible from space.