(Abolished 13 November 1918)
King Ludwig III
King Ludwig III of Bavaria, may have been Hitler's first association with the Kaiserreich nobility.
At the outbreak of World War I, Ludwig III received a petition from Adolf Hitler, asking for permission to join the Bavarian Army.
The petition was granted and Hitler joined the Bavarian Army, where he served the remainder of WWI.

As the war drew to a close, the German Revolution broke out in Bavaria, and Ludwig III was the first Kaiserreich monarch to be deposed.


On 7 November 1918, Ludwig fled from Munich with his family to Schloss Anif, near Salzburg.
On 12 November 1918, King Ludwig gave Prime Minister Dandl the Anif declaration, releasing all government officials, soldiers and civil officers from their oath of loyalty to him.
The republican government of Kurt Eisner declared the Wittelsbachs deposed, ending 700 years of Wittelsbacher rule over Bavaria.

Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria – Ludwig's son and heir, did not join the far right in Germany, despite Hitler's attempts to win him over through Ernst Röhm and promises of royal restoration.
In 1932, a plan to give Rupprecht dictatorial powers in Bavaria under the title of Staatskommissar, attracted support from the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and the Bavarian Minister-President Wilhelm Hoegner, but the Bavarian government under Heinrich Held ended all hopes for the idea.
Rupprecht continued to harbor the idea of the restoration of the Bavarian monarchy, in a possible union with Austria as an independent Southern Germany.


In a memorandum in 1943 Prince Rupprecht even mentioned his ambition for the German crown, (of the Kaiserreich), which had been held by the House of Wittelsbach in the past.
(Abolished 13 November 1918)
King Ludwig III
King Ludwig III of Bavaria, may have been Hitler's first association with the Kaiserreich nobility. At the outbreak of World War I, Ludwig III received a petition from Adolf Hitler, asking for permission to join the Bavarian Army. The petition was granted and Hitler joined the Bavarian Army, where he served the remainder of WWI.
As the war drew to a close, the German Revolution broke out in Bavaria, and Ludwig III was the first Kaiserreich monarch to be deposed.

On 7 November 1918, Ludwig fled from Munich with his family to Schloss Anif, near Salzburg. On 12 November 1918, King Ludwig gave Prime Minister Dandl the Anif declaration, releasing all government officials, soldiers and civil officers from their oath of loyalty to him. The republican government of Kurt Eisner declared the Wittelsbachs deposed, ending 700 years of Wittelsbacher rule over Bavaria.
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria – Ludwig's son and heir, did not join the far right in Germany, despite Hitler's attempts to win him over through Ernst Röhm and promises of royal restoration. In 1932, a plan to give Rupprecht dictatorial powers in Bavaria under the title of Staatskommissar, attracted support from the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and the Bavarian Minister-President Wilhelm Hoegner, but the Bavarian government under Heinrich Held ended all hopes for the idea. Rupprecht continued to harbor the idea of the restoration of the Bavarian monarchy, in a possible union with Austria as an independent Southern Germany.

In a memorandum in 1943 Prince Rupprecht even mentioned his ambition for the German crown, (of the Kaiserreich), which had been held by the House of Wittelsbach in the past.
Former German nobility in the Nazi Party