Prince Georg of Bavaria[1] (German: Georg Franz Joseph Luitpold Maria Prinz von Bayern; 2 April 1880 – 31 May 1943) was a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach and a Catholic priest.
Georg entered the Bavarian army as a Second Lieutenant (German: Leutnant) a day before his 17th birthday on 1 April 1897; he was assigned to Infanterie-Leib-Regiment. On 8 February 1903, he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant (German: Oberleutnant) and then reassigned to the 1st Royal Bavarian Heavy Cavalry “Prince Charles of Bavaria”. Two years later, on 27 October 1905, he was promoted to Rittmeister, and on 26 October 1906 to Major. From 17 August 1908, he was also a Rittmeister and later Major in the 11th "Moravia" Austro-Hungarian Dragoons.[3] While in the army, he became a champion boxer.
The couple honeymooned in Wales, Paris, and Algiers,[5] but separated before the end of the honeymoon. There were several unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation. On 17 January 1913, the union was dissolved by the Royal Bavarian Supreme Court; on 5 March 1913, the union was annulled by the Holy See on the grounds of non-consummation.[6]
On 31 May 1943, Georg died at Villa San Francesco. One source says that he had been ill for some time.[15] Another source says that he died unexpectedly of tuberculosis contracted while working at a hospital.[16] He is buried in the Campo Santo Teutonico, the German cemetery immediately outside the walls of Vatican City.[17] In his will, he left money to pay for new bronze doors for St. Peter's Basilica;[18] these include the "Door of the Dead" by Giacomo Manzù and the "Door of the Sacraments" by Venanzo Crocetti.
A few writers (e.g. Martha Schad [19][page needed]) maintain that after the death of his father in 1930, Georg became the successor to the Greek rights of his great-uncle King Otto of Greece who was deposed in 1862. Georg's uncle Ludwig and his descendants were more senior, but Ludwig had renounced his Greek rights in 1869. However, the Greek Constitution of 1844 required that the successor of King Otto "shall profess the Greek Orthodox religion."[20]
Honours
Prince Georg was President of the Royal Automobile Club of Bavaria (Königlich Bayerischer Automobil-Club).[21] In 1911 he became Protector of the Bavarian branch of the German Navy League.[22] In 1929 he became a member of the Archconfraternity of the Suffering Mother of God in the Campo Santo Teutonico.[11]
Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Crown and Swords (28 September 1914, returned upon receipt of higher class) [27][28]
Military Merit Order, 3rd Class with Swords (28 May 1917, returned upon receipt of higher class) [29]
Military Merit Order, 3rd Class with Crown and Swords (15 April 1918, not returned, as Bavarian regulations allowed wear of the 3rd class with the officer's cross) [30]
^Regarding personal names: Prinz was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Prince. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine form is Prinzessin.
^"Mgr. Prince George of Bavaria Was 63", New York Times (June 2, 1943): 25.
^Almanach de Gotha: annuaire généalogique, diplomatique, et statistique 1910 (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1910), 15.
^"Forthcoming Marriages", The Times (December 12, 1911): 11.
^Martha Schad, Kaiserin Elisabeth und ihre Töchter (München: Langen Müller, 1998), 37.
^Albrecht Weiland, Der Campo Santo Teutonico in Rom und Seine Grabdenmäler (Rome: Herder, 1988), 185.
^Weiland, 185, which includes a description of his tombstone.
^Bill Pepper Curtis, An Artist and the Pope (New York: Madison Square Press, 1968), 120.
^Martha Schad, Kaiserin Elisabeth und ihre Töchter (München: Langen Müller, 1998)
^Charles A. Frazee, The Orthodox Church and Independent Greece, 1821-1852 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1969): 162.
^Royal Automobile Club Year Book 1912 (London: Royal Automobile Club, 1912), 188.
^"German Navy League", The Times (May 4, 1911): 5.
^Günter Wegner: Stellenbesetzung der Deutschen Heere 1815-1939. Band 3: Die Stellenbesetzung der aktiven Regimenter, Battalione und Abteilungen von der Stiftung bzw. Aufstellung bis zum 26. August 1939, Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2413-1, p. 402
^Günter Wegner: Stellenbesetzung der Deutschen Heere 1815-1939. Band 2: Die Stellenbesetzung der aktiven Regimenter, Battalione und Abteilungen von der Stiftung bzw. Aufstellung bis zum 26. August 1939, Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1992, ISBN 3-7648-1782-8, p. 429
^Dominique Egret, Arno Breker: Ein Leben für das Schöne (Tübingen: Grabert, 1996), no. 82.
^Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Bayern (1908), "Königliche Orden" pp. 7, 11
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafBayerisches Kriegsministerium (Herausg.): Militär-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern, Drucksachen-Verlag des Kriegsministeriums, Munich 1916, p. 90
^ abKriegsrangliste des Armee-Oberkommandos 6, Bavarian State Archives, Department IV, War Archive, Kriegsranglisten und -stammrollen, 1914-1918, Munich
^Erhard Roth: Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Königreichs Bayern im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-1918, Phaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Offenbach am Main, 1997, ISBN 3-932543-19-X, p. 41
^Erhard Roth: Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Königreichs Bayern im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-1918, Phaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Offenbach am Main, 1997, ISBN 3-932543-19-X, p. 31
^Erhard Roth: Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Königreichs Bayern im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-1918, Phaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Offenbach am Main, 1997, ISBN 3-932543-19-X, p. 27
^Richard Lundström & Daniel Krause: Verleihungen des Fürstlichen Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern und der Goldene Ehrenmedaille mit Schwertern 1914-1947, Phaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Konstanz am Bodensee, 2008, ISBN 3-937064-12-5, p. 7
^"Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1918, pp. 50, 56, retrieved 20 July 2020
^Ferry W. von Péter: Verleihungen nichtbayerischer Orden und Ehrenzeichen an bayerische Militärangehörige 1914-1918, Phaleristischer Verlag Autengruber & Hrdina GbR, Offenbach am Main 2001, ISBN 3-932543-25-0, p. 103
^刑部芳則 (2017). 明治時代の勲章外交儀礼(PDF) (in Japanese). 明治聖徳記念学会紀要. p. 150.
