Burial Theatinerkirche Name Princess of | Role Writer House House of Wittelsbach | |
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Born 12 November 1850
Munich ( 1850-11-12 ) Father Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria Mother Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria Died December 19, 1925, Lindau, Germany Parents Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria Grandparents Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen Cousins Ludwig II of Bavaria, Otto of Bavaria, Archduchess Mathilda of Austria, Prince Alfons of Bavaria, Prince Ludwig Ferdinan Similar People Therese of Saxe‑Hildburghausen, Archduchess Auguste Ferdinan, Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig III of Bavaria, Ludwig II of Bavaria | ||
Princess Theresa of Bavaria (German: Therese Charlotte Marianne Auguste von Bayern; 12 November 1850 – 19 December 1925) was a Bavarian princess, ethnologist, zoologist, botanist, travel writer and leader in social care.
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Theresa was the third child and only daughter of Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria and of his wife Archduchess Augusta of Austria.
Life
Princess Therese Charlotte Marianne Augusta of Bavaria was born in Munich, the only daughter of the Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria and his wife, Auguste Ferdinande of Austria, the granddaughter of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. As a child, she was instructed at home alongside her two brothers, Arnulf and Ludwig (later King Ludwig III, the last Bavarian king).
As a child, Theresa showed an extraordinary ability for languages, as well as a keen interest in plants. In 1864, when Theresa was 13, tragedy befell her family when her mother died. That same year, her cousin, 18-year-old Ludwig, became King Ludwig II.
Later, Theresa would fall deeply in love with his younger brother, Otto, later Otto I of Bavaria. However, Otto, like his brother, would be deemed unfit to rule due to mental illness. Despite the fact that her love was reciprocated with equal passion, Otto`s mental illness, as well as the entire situation of her father serving as prince regent, would mean that the two could never be together.
Theresa never married, remaining a spinster all her life. She was considered a confident, independent woman, and one with unusual interests. Her interests in geology, botany, anthropology, zoology required her to attain tutors, since women at the time were not deemed fit to study at universities. Women became allowed into universities in 1903, when Theresa`s father, Prince Regent Lutipold, legalized it.
At age 21, she began to tour Europe and North Africa. She learned to both read and write in a total of 12 languages. She would usually travel with a group of people who served her, including a lady-in-waiting, and usually chose to travel incognito.
Throughout her life Theresa made numerous trips to other countries where she collected specimens of local flora and fauna. She wrote a number of books about these excursions in which she described the natural history of the places she visited.
In 1892 Theresa became the first woman to be given honorary membership in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The same year she became an honorary member of the Munich Geographical Society. In 1897 she became the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She was also a corresponding member of the Berlin Entomological Society.
Theresa died in Lindau. After her death, her important collection of anthropological materials from South America became part of the collection of the State Museum of Ethnology in Munich.