Period 8 July 1996 – present Religion Roman Catholicism | Name Franz, of House House of Wittelsbach | |
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Predecessor Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria Heir presumptive Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria Born 14 July 1933 (age 91)
Munich, German Reich ( 1933-07-14 ) Father Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria Mother Countess Maria Draskovich of Trakostjan Successor Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria Parents Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, Countess Maria Draskovich of Trakostjan Grandparents Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria Great-grandparents Ludwig III of Bavaria Similar People Prince Max - Duke in Bavaria, Ludwig III of Bavaria, Rupprecht - Crown Prince of, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria | ||
Franz duke of bavaria
Franz, Duke of Bavaria (German: Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern; born 14 July 1933) is head of the House of Wittelsbach, the former ruling family of the Kingdom of Bavaria. His great-grandfather King Ludwig III was the last ruling monarch of Bavaria until deposed in 1918.
Contents
- Franz duke of bavaria
- Birth
- Education
- Current activities
- Succession rights
- Link to the Stuarts
- Titles and styles
- Honours
- Academic
- Other
- References
Franz was born in Munich. During the Second World War, the Wittelsbachs were anti-Nazi. The family initially left Nazi Germany for Hungary but were eventually arrested when Franz was aged 11. He spent time in several Nazi concentration camps, including Oranienburg and Dachau.
After the war, he was a student at the University of Munich and became a collector of modern art. Franz succeeded as head of the House of Wittelsbach, and as pretender to the Bavarian throne, on the death of his father in 1996. He lives at the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich. Franz is not married.
Also the current heir-general of King James II of England and VII of Scotland, Franz is, as Francis II, considered – by Jacobites – to be the legitimate heir of the Stuart kings of England, Scotland, Ireland and France. A spokesman has said that the Duke generally does not comment on issues concerning his "familiar relationship" to the Royal House of Stuart.
Birth
Franz was born on 14 July 1933 in Munich, the son of Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, and his morganatic wife, Countess Maria Draskovich of Trakostjan of the House of Drašković, a Croatian noble family. On 18 May 1949, when Franz was 15, his grandfather Crown Prince Rupprecht recognised the marriage of Franz's parents as dynastic, and Franz became a prince of Bavaria.
The Wittelsbach dynasty were opposed to the Nazi regime in Germany, and in 1939, Franz's father Albrecht took his family to Hungary. They lived in Budapest for four years before moving to their Castle at Sárvár in late 1943. In March 1944, Nazi Germany occupied Hungary, and on 6 October 1944 the entire family, including the 11-year-old Franz, were arrested. They were sent to a series of Nazi concentration camps, including Oranienburg and Dachau. At the end of April 1945, they were liberated by the United States Third Army.
Education
After the war, Franz received his high-school education at the Benedictine Abbey of Ettal. He then studied business management at the University of Munich and in Zurich. Franz developed a passion for collecting modern art. Items from his private collection are on permanent loan to the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. He is also an honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Current activities
Franz lives in a wing of Nymphenburg Palace, the former summer residence of the Kings of Bavaria, in Munich. His country retreat is Berg Castle, and he occasionally uses the former royal castle at Berchtesgaden and Hohenschwangau Castle, both of which house family museums.
His 80th birthday party, in 2013, was held at the Schleissheim Palace near Munich. The party was attended by 2,500 guests, including the current Minister-President of Bavaria, Horst Seehofer.
In 2016 he became the donor of the project of restoration of the Statue of St. John of Nepomuk in Divina, Slovakia, realised out under auspices of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Slovakia. The project was honoured by patronage of His Majesty Norodom Sihamoni, the king of Cambodia and His Majesty Simeon II., the last tsar of Bulgaria. The project was completed in the year 2017.
Succession rights
Franz has never married. The heir presumptive to the headship of the House of Wittelsbach is his brother Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria. Because Max has five daughters but no sons, he is followed in the line of succession by his and Franz's first cousin Prince Luitpold.
Link to the Stuarts
The current senior heir-general of King James II of England and VII of Scotland, Franz is, as King Francis II, considered by Jacobites to be the legitimate successor to the Stuart kings of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland. It is not, however, a claim which he pursues.
The Jacobite succession, following English common law, transmits the right to the throne to or through women, and their descendants, whenever they have no brothers, unlike the semi-Salic law of the Wittelsbachs in Bavaria which only allows women to accede once all the men in the dynasty have expired. Therefore, the Jacobite succession will pass to Prince Max's eldest daughter, Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein, while the Bavarian succession will pass to his agnatic cousin, Luitpold.
Franz is descended from the House of Stuart through the following persons:
Franz's successors to the Jacobite claim are:
Titles and styles
Franz uses the titles Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine, plus the style "His Royal Highness".
Franz was styled Prinz von Bayern at birth. In 1996, after the death of his father, he changed his style to Herzog von Bayern ('Duke of Bavaria').
Honours
Academic
He is a Hereditary Senator of the University of Munich and an Honorary Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Other
He holds many honorary positions in civic and religious organisations in Bavaria. He supports charitable enterprises helping orphans in Romania.