Marie Ludovika Wilhelmine was born to King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Caroline of Baden as their sixth child. The birth of Ludovika was known to be difficult.[citation needed] Ludovika was christened one day after her birth as Ludovika Wilhelmine.
Ludovika and her sisters received many lessons in literature as well as geography and history. They both spoke German and French.[1]
Princess Ludovika of Bavaria and Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria in a portrait from 1828.
Marriage
Ludovika married Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria, whose father Duke Pius August in Bavaria was her cousin, on 9 September 1828 in Tegernsee. Ludovika was always frustrated that, unlike her elder sisters who married kings and Austrian archdukes, she would not be marrying someone with a grand title, but rather a peculiar and childish duke who had a fondness for circuses. However, Ludovika was determined to create dynastic marriages for her daughters. She and her husband had ten children, including Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Queen Maria Sofia of the Two Sicilies.[2]
Maximilian was mostly away from home; due to this, Ludovika wrote that she spent their first wedding anniversary alone and wept. Though, in 1830, Ludovika found herself pregnant with their first child. On 21 June 1831, she gave birth to a son whom they named Ludwig Wilhelm.
^See the biography of her son Karl-Theodor: Sexau, Richard. Fürst und Arzt, Dr. med. Herzog Carl Theodor in Bayern: Shicksal zwischen Wittelsbach und Habsburg. Graz: Verlag Styria, 1963.
Bibliography
Sepp, Christian (2021). Ludovika. Sisi Mutter und ihr Jahrhundert [Ludovika. Sisi's mother and her century] (in German) (2nd ed.). Munich: August Dreesbach Verlag. ISBN978-3-96395-026-1.
von Witzleben, Hermann; von Vignau, Ilka (1976). Die Herzöge in Bayern. Von der Pfalz zum Tegernsee [The dukes in Bavaria. From the Palatinate to Tegernsee] (in German). Munich. ISBN3-7913-0394-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
The generations are numbered from the ascension of Maximilian I Joseph as King of Bavaria in 1806. Only entries with articles are included. Later generations do not legally hold a title due to the German Revolution of 1918.
