Marie of Prussia


Marie of Prussia was Queen of Bavaria by marriage to Maximilian II of Bavaria, and the mother of Kings Ludwig II and Otto, [King of Bavaria|Otto] of Bavaria.

Life

Born and raised in Berlin, Marie was the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg. Her uncle was King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia. The family spent half of the year at Fischbach Castle in Silesia, where they loved to hike in the Giant Mountains.
In her youth, Marie was seriously considered as a wife for Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, until her engagement to Maximilian was announced.

Queen

On 12 October 1842, she married the Crown Prince, and later King of Bavaria, Maximilian II.
Marie was loved equally by both the Catholic and Protestant populations. A specific emphasis of her "great social engagement" was a reactivation of the Bavarian Women's Association, which took place on 18 December 1869 with the aid of her son, Ludwig II. Its aim was "Pflege und Unterstützung der im Felde verwundeten und erkrankten Krieger". The Bavarian Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies|Red Cross] was officially founded as a result of the Bavarian Women's Association. The Red Cross eventually took over for the Queen.

Queen dowager

With the sudden death of Maximilian II on 10 March 1864, Marie became a widow. On 12 October 1874, she converted to Catholicism.
As a widow she lived at Nymphenburg Palace. She spent her summer holidays at Schloss Hohenschwangau near Füssen, a castle her husband had redecorated in Gothic Revival style, and at her country estate in Elbigenalp in the Lechtal Alps. She enjoyed hiking the mountains, which she had often done with her sons when they were young. Marie looked after her second son Otto, who was declared insane. She outlived her elder son, Ludwig II, by nearly three years; his unusual death occurring on 13 June 1886. Marie died 17 May 1889 in Hohenschwangau.
Marie is interred in the Theatine Church in Munich in a side chapel opposite her husband.

Issue

Marie and Maximilian had:

Honours