The Drowned King - Residenz
Behind the bronze lions of the Kapellenhof, in the black-draped Hofkapelle of the Residenz, King Ludwig II lay in state from 16 to 18 June 1886, three days after he and his psychiatrist were found dead in the shallows of Lake Starnberg, a death officially ruled suicide and still disputed today.
Sobre este lugar
The west front of the Residenz on Residenzstrasse, built for Duke Maximilian I between 1612 and 1617, is the oldest publicly visible face of the largest city palace in Germany, its portals guarded by bronze lions whose shields symbolise the four princely virtues. Through the right hand portal lies the Kapellenhof and the Hofkapelle, consecrated in 1603, where Bavaria's most notorious royal mystery reached its final act. King Ludwig II, declared insane in June 1886 by four psychiatrists who had never examined him, was deposed and taken to Berg Castle. On the evening of 13 June 1886 he and Dr Bernhard von Gudden walked out along Lake Starnberg and were found dead in waist deep water at about half past ten that night; the king's watch had stopped at 6:54. The official cause was suicide by drowning, yet no water was reported in his lungs and Gudden's body bore blows and signs of strangulation, so theories of murder, escape or heart failure have never died. The coffin arrived here at two in the morning on 15 June, thirteen doctors performed the autopsy, and from 16 to 18 June the embalmed king lay in state in the Hofkapelle in the black robes of the Order of Saint Hubert with a bouquet of jasmine from Empress Elisabeth on his chest. The crowds were so vast that the police reported fainting fits, thefts and brawls, and the funeral route on 19 June had to be lengthened at the last minute from 950 metres to 2.5 kilometres before Ludwig was laid in the crypt of St Michael's Church.
Datos clave
- 13 June 1886 — The evening King Ludwig II and his psychiatrist Bernhard von Gudden were found dead in shallow water near the shore of Lake Starnberg; the king's watch had stopped at 6:54.
- 3 days — From 16 to 18 June 1886 the embalmed king lay in state in the Hofkapelle of the Residenz, twice as long as his father Maximilian II in 1864, while enormous crowds pushed through the Kapellenhof.
- 2.5 kilometres — The length of the funeral route on 19 June 1886, expanded from 950 metres just one day earlier after police warned the crowds could not be controlled.
📍 Residenzstraße 1, 80333, München