He had no say or control over the latter, other than by withholding consent from their marriages. But even if a union was morganatic, only the issue would be affected: the dynast still remains in the succession. However, such a thing never applied in the case of Ludwig II, since all the marriages contracted by the Wittelsbachs within the king's reign were unquestionably "equal" (their spouses all came from reigning or royal houses). So he had no grounds for withholding consent to any of them, since they were perfectly dynastic in accordance with existing house laws.
So the matter of concern, when it came to inheritance, was his estate -- not royal succession. Earlier on these message boards, it was clarified that the heirs are responsible for the deceased's debts only if the assets are assumed. Otherwise, they have every right to reject the inheritance. Indeed, the Wittelsbachs could easily have turned over the castles to the banks and creditors, to which King Ludwig II owed big time money. As it was, uncle Luitpold opted to assume both his nephew's debts and assets.
So the questions are: just WHO constituted Ludwig's "heirs" anyway, given that he left no will? How many relatives were impacted by the situation and responsible for his debts and assets? The entire house of Wittelsbach? And what of his belongings other than his castles?
The reason for my asking is the hand-wringing over the original manuscripts of some Wagner operas. It's a well-known fact that the young king rescued the composer's career when it was on the ebb -- patronizing him in a way that no one else would have. But for Ludwig's support, a number of famous operas might never have been staged or premiered. Also, the estate of Wahnfried might not have been built, and the festival house of Bayreuth might not have become renovated.
Anyhow, in exchange for all this, the king was to "own" some of the operas -- i.e. the original handwritten scores. Unfortunately, they eventually left the hands of the Wittelsbachs, who in 1939 sold them to a high-ranking Nazi officer who in turn presented them as a 50th birthday present to Der Führer, who in turned visited Wahnfried and told Winifred Wagner that he would have given them to her -- but for the fact that he supposedly had a "safer" place to hide them. Unfortunately, he didn't tell her where: to this day, nobody is sure about their exact fate.
How, then, came these manuscripts (whatever might be said about the castles) into the hands of the Wittelsbachs, anyway? Should they not have been turned over to the state of Bavaria? Or to the Wagner family? Just what exactly did Ludwig's kinsmen come to own?
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