Menu dated 15th November 1913

Dinner at the Royal Palace, Munich, hosted by Their Majesties King Ludwig III  and Queen Marie Therese of Bavaria in honour of His Majesty King Friedrich-August III of Saxony.

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Ludwig III had only been King for ten days when he held this nine course dinner at his palace in honor of a visit by King Friedrich-August III of Saxony.

Following Ludwig’s coronation, royals from across the European mainland shuffled their diaries so they could pay their personal respects to the new King of Bavaria. After all, it had been nearly 30 years since Bavaria last had a reigning King. The previous two Kings, Ludwig II and Otto I, had both been declared insane; with the Kingdom being run by a Prince Regent since 1886.

On 5th November Ludwig III, who had until then been Prince Regent for almost a year, finally succeeded in convincing Parliament to officially depose his cousin, the incurably insane King Otto, and declare himself as King instead.

Amongst the first to visit the new monarch was the King of Saxony who arrived by royal train the night before so he would be nicely refreshed for this gala dinner in his honour.

But the King of Saxony’s journey to Bavaria was not without incident with The Times reporting that:

“he [the King of Saxony] traveled last night from Dresden by way of Munich to Garmisch in order to pay a private visit to his brother, Prince Max. Close to Garmisch Station the luggage van of the Royal train ran off the line and was over-turned. The King got out of the train and walked into the station…. the news of the King’s escape caused large crowds to assemble in the streets of Munich this evening when his Majesty arrived, and he had a very enthusiastic reception as he drove from the station with King Ludwig”.

 Later in the week, The Times updated its readers on this dinner:

“In the evening there was a State Banquet, at which King Ludwig and King Frederick Augustus proposed each others healths in very cordial speeches. King Ludwig said the whole Bavarian nation warmly welcomed his guest, and that Bavaria and Saxony could look back upon centuries of friendship with each other. The King of Saxony congratulated King Ludwig upon his accession to the Throne, and said that he would continue to make it his aim to maintain cordial relations between Saxony and Bavaria.”