Franz Duke of Bavaria is great-grandson of the last Bavarian king Ludwig III. “S.K.H.” emblazoned on his invitations, “His Royal Highness”. On Friday (July 14) the Duke – Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria is his full first name – celebrates his 90th birthday.
Formally, the Wittelsbach family never gave up their claim to the throne, but the Munich resident doesn’t value that. He is not sad that he is not king, he once told the “Bayerische Staatszeitung”. He is an advocate of parliamentary democracy. “Because she has shaped our country for over 60 years in a way that we can only be grateful for.”
Noble restraint characterizes the Wittelsbacher just as much as a love of music and theater and an excellent knowledge of the arts, which he has promoted with a lot of passion for decades. The representative of the former royal family can often be seen at public events, even if he avoids glamor and red carpets.
His companion for more than 40 years: his partner Thomas Greinwald. “Such a stable community, in which you know each other so well and are connected by many common interests, is a gift and a good counterbalance,” writes the duke in his autobiography “Viewers in the first row”. They didn’t have it easy with their love. Officially, the duke was considered a bachelor for decades. In the past, many would have struggled with such partnerships, he writes. This required a lot of renunciation and consideration from his partner.
Franz von Bayern sees the fact that he is now 90 with mixed feelings. Getting older is not easy, but it also has its advantages. “You don’t get upset so easily anymore because you have the experience that a lot of things will take care of themselves,” he writes. “But the elixir of life remains curiosity.”
