Why did Bavarian King Ludwig I abdicate? Because of Lola Montez and sex?

In 1846 Lola Montez arrived in Munich and had a torrid affair with King Ludwig I of Bavaria. But did her position as the king’s mist­ress hel­p trigger the down­fall of his reign? Historians have giv­en three possible answers:

Lola Montez, by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1847,
for Ludwig I of Bavaria, Gallery of Beauties

1] Lola Montez was so outrageous, she was totally responsible for Bavarians forcing the king to abdicate

In Oct 1846, Lola Montez wanted to perform at Munich’s Stage Thea­tre but the director rejected her request because the deep­ly Cathol­ic Bav­ar­­ian audience would loath her. So she went to King Ludwig’s Re­s­idenz Palace, to complain. 60 years old Ludwig, marr­ied to Queen Ther­ese, was famous for his philandering. Infatuated by Lola, Ludwig arr­an­g­ed for her debut at the Stage Theatre, but it was a di­s­aster; her provocative dancing outraged the Catholic audience.

It wasn’t just Lola’s beauty and sexiness that enchanted Ludwig. He lov­ed her mental pow­ers and her bold political views. It was clear that the Liberal dancer wielded a lot of infl­uence; his willingness to dis­cuss state affairs with her threat­ened his Conservative government. Yet Ludwig gave her jewels, an income and a mansion. Plus he com­missioned her portrait for his palace’s Gallery of Beauties.

But when Lola’s political views and sexuality clashed with the cons­erv­ative Bav­ar­ian court, she was very unpopular. Lola was openly shunned in public as a disrep­utable woman, except by university students.

The tense situation around Lola worsened when she wanted to become a naturalised Bavarian cit­izen AND wanted a noble tit­le. In 1847 Ludwig named Lola Coun­tess of Landsfeld, much to the horror of his govern­ment, who believed that the king’s illicit relat­ion­ship would destab­il­ise the state. When Prime Minister Karl von Abel objected to Lola’s privileges, the king fir­ed him and his ministers!!

The king’s infidelities had been ignored for years, but raising his mistress to the nobility was unacceptable. When university professors voiced their displeasure, Ludwig promptly dis­mis­sed them (Feb 1848). The students, finding their loyalties divided as they wat­ched their lecturers, protested outside Lola’s mansion. She even en­cour­aged the king to shut the university altogether, an ill-advised decision!

Infuriated, the students rioted in the streets and were quickly joined by other citizens who loathed the king’s unruly mistress. The king sent the police to rescue her, but even the king’s new government, selected with Lola’s help, resigned when he utterly refused to renounce his mis­tress. Thank you Jessica Leggett.

2] 1848 was a disruptive year across Europe; many rulers could not deal with the politics and lost their thrones.

 There were many riots, protests & revolutions across the German st­at­es etc, in the 1840s. King Louis Philippe I of France was ov­­er­thrown in 1848, forced to abdic­ate and succ­eeded by his grandson Phil­ippe. Emperor Ferd­in­and I of Austria abdicat­ed in 1848 in fav­our of his nephew Franz Joseph. He was deposed in 1849. Francis V Duke of Mod­ena was deposed in 1848, reinstated in 1849 then depos­ed again. Ch­arles II Duke of Parma, was over­th­rown in 1848, re­ins­t­at­ed in 1849 & then reabdicated. King Ch­arles Albert of Sardinia was forced to ab­dicate in 1849 then died. Joseph Duke of Saxe-Altenburg was over­thrown in 1848. Leopold II Gr­and Duke of Tus­cany was overth­rown in 1849 then restored and later re-abdicated. There were many armed clashes in Aust­ria, Rus­sia, Pruss­ia, Bohemia, Italy, France, Hungary, German states etc then.

So the mid-1840s was a tumultuous era across Europe. The pro­t­ests were due to citizens showing dis­cont­ent with the trad­itional, largely autocr­at­ic polit­ical structure in countries. And the working-class sought radical changes to their working & living condit­ions. One such crisis that Ludwig faced was the 1844 Beer Riot where he tried to tax beer.

Disruption peaked in 1848 when the Bavarian King faced greater demons­t­rations by the students and the middle classes. Lud­wig’s brother Prince Karl initially managed to appease the prot­est­ers, but then the royals and Cabinet turned against Ludwig. Ludwig had to sign the March Pro­cl­amation with major concess­ions to the cabinet. But the king was un­­will­ing to rule as a constit­utional monarch, as opposed to an absol­ute mon­arch, so he abdicated in favour of his son Maxim­ilian II. Thank you His­t­orica for showing that Lola Montez was not responsible.

King Ludwig I of Bavaria in Military Uniform, c1850
by Heinrich Wilhelm Eduard Vogel,
Saint Vincent Archabbey Collection.
Credit: Verotsko

3] The 1848 politics WERE disruptive, but Montez helped Ludwig lose his throne faster than might have otherwise been the case.

Yes, the unrest in Bavaria coincided with republican revolutions sweeping across Europe in the mid 1840s. Ludwig’s abdic­ation in favour of Maximilian came after the gen­er­al revolutionary upheaval and demand for more dem­o­c­racy that engulfed Europe in March 1848. Ludwig was not forc­ed to abdicate, but he WAS forced to accept a cons­titut­ion that would limit the king’s power and reduce him to a position in which he was only allowed to sign laws that politicians wrote. As he felt that position was beneath him, Ludwig abdic­ated for political reasons. 
 

But there may have been a Bav­arian element to the abdication decision; the final straw that united most citizens against the king was his aff­air with the infamous dancer. When enraged protest­ors surr­oun­d­ed his pal­ace, the king finally agreed to reopen the university and, sadly, give up his beloved Lola. She was whisked away to Switzer­land at night, where she waited in vain for Ludwig to join her. But too much damage had been done to the king’s reputation.

In March 1848 it was followed by renewed unrest because Lola returned to Munich after a short exile. But her career as a power be­hind the throne permanent­ly ended and despite Lud­wig’s pre­vious popul­arity, it seems likely that his relationship with Montez had partly contrib­uted to his abd­ication! Thank you Susan Flanzer,