Figure 1.--This portrait shows Prince Rupprecht's sons Luitpold and Albrecht with their new born brother Rudolf in 1909. Unfortunately some one has scribled on the card, but Luitpold and and Albrecht appear to be wearing matching outfits.

Prince Rupprecht married twice and had a total of ten children, quite a royal family. Prince Rupprecht first married the Bavarian Maria Gabriele (1900). It w a very successful marriage. Their first child, Luitpold arrived the next year (1901). They had four children. Several years after Maria Gabriele died, Prince Rupprecht married again to Princess Antoinette von Nassau, of Luxembourg (1921). They had another six children.

Prince Rupprecht and Maria Gabriele

Prince Rupprecht's first marriage was to Maria Gabriele (1884-1912) of Bavaria. They married in 1900. Her father was Karl Theodor "Gackl" (1839). Karl Theodor was a son of King Maximilian I Joseph, Bavaria's first king. Her mother was Maria Josepha of Portugal--de Bragança (1857). His sister in law was thus the Princess Elizabeth. Prince Rupprecht and Maria Gabriele had four children, only one of which survived to adulthood. The children were very elegantly dressed as boys in early 20th century. Their clothing looks much like that ofthe Belgian princes at about the same time. Notably the mother of the Belgian princes was Princess Elizabeth who was to become the queen of Belgium. 1) Luitpold was born in 1901. We have little information on Luitpold and his childhood. We do have several portraits of him and we thus know a lot about how he was dressed. His mother chose a variety of very fancy outfits. He died tragically in 1914. 2) Irmingard was born in 1902, but died as an infant in 1903. 3) Albrecht (Albert) was born in 1905 and became Duke of Bavaria in the geological line, although he never reigned. He married Countess Maria Draskovich at Berchetesgaden in 1930. 4) Rudolf was born in 1909. We have a few photogaphs of him as a baby. He died after at only 3 years of ashe in 1912.

Prince Rupprecht and Antoinette of Luxembourg

Prince Rupprecht after the death of his first wife, met Antoinette von Nassau, of Luxembourg during World War I. Germany invsade the Grand Duchy as it invaded Belgium, launching Worldf War I. Unauspiciously the Prince, an officer in the Bavarian Army, met her during the German occupation of Luxenbourg. Consorting with the occupying Germans made her very unpopular in her own country. Marrisage was not possible during the War. After the War Prince Ripprecht married again. He married Princess Antoinette on April 6, 1921 at Schloss Honenburg, Lengries. Of course they now no longer were reigning royls, but the Bavarian royal family still retained considerable popularity, unlike the Hohenzollerns. Rupprecht and Antoinette had six children, a boy and five girls. The children were: Henry (1922- ). Irmingard (1923- ), Editha (1924- ), Hilda (1926- ), Gabriele (1927- ), and Sophie (1935- ). We have no information on the chidhood and adult lives of the children at this time. Perhps our German readers will know something about them.

Created: May 4, 2002
Last updated: 4:55 AM 1/4/2010