Once there was a king of Bavaria, whose name was Ludwig II. At eighteen years old he was tall and handsome, and the people rejoiced at his coronation. He loved France, and absolute monarchy, and all the trappings of his grandeur. He admired French chateaux and gardens, and enjoyed luxury, fantasy and beauty. He did not wish to see a unified German Empire under Protestant Prussia, and when Bavaria lost its independence he abandoned all interest in his political duties. In 1871 he even refused to attend the ceremony of the Proclamation of the German Empire, held in the Hall of Mirrors at the Chateau of Versailles. His love for both Bavaria and Versailles were too great, and he was a devout Catholic. As such, the king began to live more and more as a recluse, occupying himself with fantastical desires and increasingly eccentric tastes. He could be seen at night riding across Bavaria in a great sled, wearing an old-fashioned costume. He required his valets to dress up with him, and lived as if in a fairy-tale. He lived in another world, and spent extravagantly. He was consumed by an inner turmoil – he adored young men, but he was a devout Christian. He was sensitive, with the soul of an artist, and yet he was king. He taste in art and his predilection for Romanticism led him to sponsor many young artists. He funded Richard Wager, whom he admired and secretly loved. He even had a palace built for Wagner’s operas to be performed in. But the King wanted more, and wanted to be an artist himself. He wished to make Bavaria a fairy-tale land, one full of romance, beauty and culture. He built castles, the most famous of which was Neuschwanstein, which meant ‘new swan stone.’ This spectacular palace was built on a rocky outcrop over 800 metres above sea level, and its splendour would shine out across the country. Neuschwanstein castle was never completed. King Ludwig II was called a madman and placed under house arrest. He would not remain caged for long; the day after his internment, he died when out walking with his psychiatrist. Both their bodies were retrieved from Starnberg Lake.
Ludwig II’s imagination and folly would travel far beyond the borders of Bavaria, thanks to the modern prince of fairy tales: Walt Disney. Louis II and Disney’s fates and dreams were intertwined; in 1955 the castle became the setting for the story of the princess cursed at birth to sleep for a hundred years. Children from all over the world would gaze at the castle in wonder. An evil sorceress, a dragon, an impassable thicket of thorns, a brave prince, a kiss of awakening; all these artifices that brought fantasy and magic back to life. Neuschwanstein castle became Walt Disney’s castle. It was a fitting home for Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella; one that could embody the magic of Disney, and would become shining beacon of his theme parks.
Alan Alfredo Geday