“The Mad King: The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria”, by Greg King

335 pages, Citadel, ISBN-13: 978-1559723626

Der Märchenkönig – “The Fairy Tale King” – is one of the kinder epithets for Ludwig II of Bavaria (another being Der verrückte König, “The Mad King”, by-the-by), and it is this moniker that Greg King prefers in The Mad King: The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria. Like many a modern monarch, Ludwig II reigned but never ruled, seeing that he is remembered almost wistfully as the storybook-handsome young sovereign whose early promise ended in insanity and a mysterious death – the day after his forced abdication on June 12^th, 1886, his body was found in Lake Starnberg, a presumed suicide. Neither lawgiver nor warrior, Ludwig left behind several dreamy, mock-Gothic castles and the music dramas of Wagner, whom he patronized. King’s book is, I believe, rather more informative about Ludwig’s upbringing and inadequate preparation for his royal role than previous biographies, especially about his “fragile sexual identity”; after his marriage to Duchess Sophie Charlotte Augustine in Bavaria was finally cancelled, he hid away in castles far from the capital of Munich in order to better carry on what he thought were clandestine liaisons with a series of princes and stable boys; by the time he turned 30, dissipation had cost him his health and his looks (his relationship with Wagner, whom he had championed for 18 years, also went sour). Despite King’s attempt to sentimentalize Ludwig and transform him into a more tragic and sympathetic character, his pathetic, decadent life repels more than it enthralls. A well-written book about a superfluous man, The Mad King has one great addition to the lore of this lunatic: his version of Ludwig’s final days makes a lot more sense to me than any conspiracy or suicide theory ever did, and for that reason alone you should read this book.