en, Charles Theodore Maximilian Augustus , spouse = , issue = , house =

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate o ...

, father =

Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (german: Maximilian I. Joseph; 27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph) ...

, mother =

Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt , house = Hesse-Darmstadt , father = Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt , mother = Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg , religion = Lutheranism Princess Augusta Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darms ...

, birth_date = , birth_place =

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Bavaria , death_date = , death_place =

Tegernsee Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an e ...

, Bavaria , burial_place= Prince Karl Theodor Maximilian August of Bavaria (7 July 1795 – 16 August 1875); and grand prior of the order of Malta, was a German soldier.

Early life

Charles was born in

on 7 July 1795. He was the second son of King Maximilian I of Bavaria and his first wife

Career

Charles fought against

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

at the

Battle of Hanau The Battle of Hanau was fought from 30 to 31 October 1813 between Karl Philipp von Wrede's Austro-Bavarian corps and Napoleon's retreating French during the War of the Sixth Coalition. Following Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig ...

in 1813, became a general of division, and took part in the Campaign of 1814. His differences with Prince Wrede led to his retirement from 1822 till some time after the latter's death in 1838, when his brother King

Ludwig I of Bavaria en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...

appointed him

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

and general inspector of the army. In the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

of 1866, he was commander-in-chief of the 7th and 8th corps of the

Bavarian Army The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (''Wehrhoheit'') of Bavaria into that of t ...

, being allied with

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. His troops, some 52,000 men, served in the Main Campaign. Afterwards he retired from public service.

Personal life

He married, morganatically, on 1 October 1823 with Marie-Anne-Sophie Petin (27 July 1796, Neuburg – 22 February 1838, Munich), who was created Baroness von Bayrstorff upon their marriage. She was a daughter of Franz Moritz Petin and Baroness Maria Theodora von Branca. Before her death at Tegernsee in 1838, they were the parents of three daughters: * Caroline Sophie von Bayrstorff (17 October 1816 – 25 May 1889), who married Adolf, Baron von Gumppenberg (1804–1877) in 1834. * Maximiliane Theodore von Bayrstorff (30 September 1823 – 19 March 1885), who married August, Count von Drechsel zu Deufstetten (1810–1880), in 1841. * Franziska Sophie von Bayrstorff (10 October 1827 – 2 March 1912), who married Portuguese-Brazilian nobleman Paulo Martins, Viscount d'Almeida (1807–1874) in 1845. Prince Karl fell from his horse while riding at

in Bavaria on 16 August 1875 and was killed instantly.

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter, he was a grandfather of Maximiliane, Baroness von Gumppenberg (1850–1937), who married Count

Maximilian von Holnstein Count Maximilian Carl Theodor von Holnstein aus Bayern (19 October 1835 – 1 February 1895) was a German nobleman who was a playmate of princes Ludwig and Otto (both later kings of Bavaria), and friend of Ludwig on his accession as Ludwig II. C ...

, a close friend of King

Ludwig II Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...

who brought Ludwig's "

Kaiserbrief The ''Kaiserbrief'' (English: Imperial Letter), is the letter to the German Federal princes signed by North German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck on 27 November 1870 and Bavarian King Ludwig II (born 1845, reign 1864–1886) on 30 November 1870. ...

" to

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

Early life

Career

Personal life

Descendants

Honours

Ancestry

Notes

References

Further reading