Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (german: Adalbert Alfons Maria Ascension Antonius Hubertus Joseph omnes sancti Prinz von Bayern) (3 June 1886 – 29 December 1970) was a member of the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

n Royal House of

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 ...

, historian, author and a German Ambassador to Spain.

Early life

Adalbert was born at the

Nymphenburg Palace The Nymphenburg Palace (german: Schloss Nymphenburg, Palace of the Nymphs) is a Baroque palace situated in Munich's western district Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, in Bavaria, southern Germany. Combined with the adjacent Nymphenburg Palace Park it cons ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. He was the second son of

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria es, Luis Fernando María Carlos Enrique Adalberto Francisco Felipe Andrés Constantín , image = ludwigferdinandofbavaria.jpg , caption = Prince Ludwig Ferdinand in 1906 , spouse = , house = Wittelsbach , ...

and his wife

Infanta María de la Paz of Spain Infanta María de la Paz of Spain (23 June 1862 – 4 December 1946) was a Spanish infanta. A daughter of Queen Isabella II, she married her cousin Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria. She lived the rest of her life in Germany, dedicating her time ...

. As most of his peers, following the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen ye ...

, Adalbert joined the Bavarian Army and remained an officer throughout the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. He served with the artillery as a battery commander and later as a

General Staff Corps General Staff Corps ( sv, Generalstabskåren, Gst) was an administrative corps within the Swedish Armed Forces between 1937 and 1990 and consisted of Swedish Army officers chosen for duty in the Defence Staff and Army Staff. It replaced the earlie ...

and a

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

officer on both the Western and the Eastern Fronts.

1920s-1940s

After Germany's defeat in 1918, Prince Adalbert left the military and began study history at the

Ludwig Maximilian University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

in Munich; later publishing several works on Bavarian and royal history. With the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Adalbert was recalled back to the military and served as a staff officer under close family friend

Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Wilhelm Josef Franz Ritter von Leeb (5 September 1876 – 29 April 1956) was a German field marshal and war criminal in World War II. Leeb was a highly decorated officer in World War I and was awarded the Military Order of Max Joseph which gr ...

. With the Army Group C, he took part in the German invasion of France, but his return to the German Army was short-lived. In early 1941, Prince Adalbert was relieved from all combat duties as a result of the so-called ''

Prinzenerlass ''Prinzenerlass'' (, "princes decree", also spelled Prinzenerlaß) was the name of a 1940 decree issued by Adolf Hitler that prohibited members of Germany's formerly reigning houses from participating in any military operations in the Wehrmach ...

''. By this decree,

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

ordered that all members of the former German reigning royal houses were forbidden from joining or participating in any military operations in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

. Later, in May 1941, Prince Adalbert was cashiered from the military and withdrew to the family castle Hohenschwangau in southern Bavaria, where he lived for the rest of the war.

Post World War II

After the war he worked shortly for the Bavarian

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

office and in 1952 was appointed by

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

as the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Spain. He remained in this post until 1956.

Marriage

On 12 June 1919 Prince Adalbert married Countess Augusta von Seefried auf Buttenheim (1899-1978), the daughter of Count Otto von Seefried auf Buttenheim and Princess Elisabeth Marie of Bavaria. The wedding took place in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, Austria. The couple had two sons: * Prince Konstantin of Bavaria (1920–1969) * Prince Alexander of Bavaria (12 Jun 1923 - 6 May 2001, born and died in Munich, Germany)

Death

Prince Adalbert of Bavaria died on 29 December 1970 at

and is buried at the Andechs Abbey cemetery in Bavaria.

Ancestry

Published works

* ''Das Ende der Habsburger in Spanien'' (2 Bände). Bruckmann Verlag, München 1929 * ''Vier Revolutionen und einiges dazwischen. Siebzig Jahre aus dem Leben der Prinzessin Ludwig Ferdinand von Bayern, Infantin von Spanien''. Hans Eder Verlag, München, 1932 * ''An Europas Fürstenhöfen. Lebenserinnerung der Infantin Eulalia von Spanien 1864-1931''. Verlag Robert Lutz Nachfolger Otto Schramm, Stuttgart, 1936 * ''Eugen Beauharnais. Der Stiefsohn Napoleons. Ein Lebensbild''. Propyläen Verlag, Berlin, 1940 * ''Nymphenburg und seine Bewohner''. Oldenbourg Verlag, München, 1949 * ''Max I. Joseph von Bayern. Pfalzgraf, Kurfürst und König''. Bruckmann Verlag, München, 1957 * ''Die Herzen der Leuchtenberg. Chronik einer napoleonisch-bayerisch-europäischen Familie''. Prestel Verlag, München, 1963 * ''Der Herzog und die Tänzerin. Die merkwürdige Geschichte Christians IV. von Pfalz-Zweibrücken und seiner Familie''. Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt, Neustadt/Weinstraße, 1966 * ''Als die Residenz noch Residenz war''. Prestel Verlag, München, 1967 * ''Die Wittelsbacher. Geschichte unserer Familie''. Prestel Verlag, München, 1979 * ''Erinnerungen 1900-1956''. Langen-Müller Verlag, München, 1991

References

* ''Das Bayernbuch vom Kriege 1914-1918''. Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen, Friedrichfranz Feeser, Chr. Belser AG, Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1930 * ''Die Wittelsbacher. Geschichte unserer Familie''. Adalbert, Prinz von Bayern. Prestel Verlag, München, 1979 {{DEFAULTSORT:Adalbert, Prince Of Bavaria 1886 births 1970 deaths Ambassadors of Germany to Spain German Roman Catholics German Army personnel of World War I German Army officers of World War II House of Wittelsbach Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Knights of Santiago Crosses of Military Merit Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Members of the Bavarian Reichsrat Military personnel of Bavaria People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Princes of Bavaria Burials at Andechs Abbey