Marie of Prussia

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For other uses, see Marie of Prussia (disambiguation).

Marie Friederike Franziska Hedwig
Princess of Prussia Queen of Bavaria
Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler
Titles	HM The Queen of Bavaria HRH Princess Marie of Prussia
Born	October 15, 1825 (1825-10-15)
Birthplace	Stadtschloss
Died	May 17, 1889 (aged 63)
Place of death	Schloss Hohenschwangau
Buried	Theatinerkirche
Consort	1842 – 1864
Consort to	King Maximilian II of Bavaria
Issue	Ludwig Otto
Royal House	Hohenzollern
Father	Prince Wilhelm of Prussia
Mother	Princess Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg

Marie of Prussia (German: Marie Friederike Franziska Hedwig von Preußen; October 15, 1825 - May 17, 1889) was Queen of Bavaria, and the mother of kings Ludwig II and Otto.

Born and raised in Berlin, she was the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, a younger brother of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, and his wife Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg. On October 12, 1842, she married the Crown Prince, and later King of Bavaria, Maximilian II.

Marie was loved equally by both the Evangelical and Roman Catholic populations. (At that time, Prussia was mostly Evangelical, whilst Bavaria was mostly Roman Catholic.) A specific emphasis of her 'great social engagement' was a reactivation of the Bavarian Women's Association, which took place on December 18, 1869 with the aid of her son, Ludwig II. Its aim was "Pflege und Unterstützung der im Felde verwundeten und erkrankten Krieger" (Care and support of soldiers wounded and injured in the field). The Bavarian Red Cross was officially founded as a result of the Bavarian Women's Association. The Red Cross eventually took over for the Queen.

With the sudden death of Maximilian II on March 10, 1864, Marie became a widow. On October 12, 1874, she converted to Roman Catholicism.

In later years, she lived a secluded existence at her country estate in Elbigenalp in the Lechtal Alps and at Schloss Hohenschwangau near Füssen. Marie outlived her elder son, Ludwig II, by several years. He died on June 13, 1886. Marie died in 1889 in Hohenschwangau.

She is interred in the Theatinerkirche in a side chapel opposite her husband.

[edit] Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm	25 August 1846	13 June 1886	succeeded as King of Bavaria declared mentally incompetent and deposed on 10 June 1886 died under disputed circumstances
Otto Wilhelm Luitpold Adalbert Waldemar	27 April 1848	11 October 1916	succeeded as King of Bavaria declared mentally incompetent and deposed on 5 November 1913