Prince Ludwig was born at Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria. He was the eldest son of Prince Franz of Bavaria, the third son of King Ludwig III, and his wife Princess Isabella Antonie of Croÿ. After graduating from the Maximilians-Gymnasium (located in Schwabing, Munich), Ludwig studied forestry at the university in Hungary. In 1939, as most young German men of his age, he was drafted into the military, serving as a Gebirgsjäger. However, his career in the German Army was short lived. In early 1941, Ludwig was relieved from all combat duties as a result of the Prinzenerlass which prohibited members of Germany's royal houses from participating in military operations. He spent the rest of the war at Sarvar in Hungary where his family owned a castle. In 1945, his family fled Hungary and settled at Leutstetten near Starnberg in Bavaria.
Alice Isabella Maria of Bavaria (born 1981), married Lukas of Auersperg (born 1981) on 29 August 2009.
Ludwig Heinrich of Bavaria (born 1982), who married Sophie-Alexandra Evekink, a doctoral student at the Law Faculty of the University of Oxford, on 20 May 2023 at the Theatine Church in Munich.
Heinrich Rudolf of Bavaria (born 1986), married on 22 April 2017 to Henriette Gruse (born 1982) in Andechs Abbey in Munich.
After the death of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria in 1955, Ludwig and Irmingard moved into Schloss Leutstetten, where Irmingard continued to live. Ludwig was a Grand Prior of the Bavarian Order of Saint George, a Knight of the Order of Saint Hubert, and from 1960 a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Ludwig died of pneumonia at Schloss Leutstetten, 17 October 2008, at the age of 95.[1]
On Wednesday, 22 October at 10:00 a.m., a Funeral Liturgy was held in the abbey church at Andechs. After the Mass, his body was buried in the Wittelsbach cemetery on the abbey grounds.
