This is how a king comes out
“HRH Duke Franz of Bavaria and Thomas Greinwald” by Erwin Olaf, 2021
Source: © Erwin Olaf
As a descendant of Ludwig II, Franz von Bayern would be king today. With a photo, the Duke commemorates the most famous of all Wittelsbachers. Franz poses on it with his partner. What do the people say about it?
WITHtwo men in a photo in a brownish old-fashioned castle interior. One of them is sitting heavily in a chair. The other, much younger, is standing next to it and has put his hand on the armrest. “HRH Duke Franz von Bayern and Thomas Greinwald, May 2021” noted the caption. You can see Duke Franz of Bavaria, a descendant of Ludwig II like the Austrian Empress Sisi.
The head of the House of Wittelsbach would be King of Bavaria today. The naturopath Thomas Greinwald poses behind him. Shortly before his 88th birthday, the head of a former royal house comes out for the first time with this double portrait – discreetly but clearly, in the form of a work of art.
How do we get that? Let’s go back 140 years. Two men in one photo. One of them is sitting heavily in a chair. The other, significantly younger, stands by and puts his hand on the older one on the shoulder. This picture is unheard of: because it shows King Ludwig of Bavaria and his court actor Josef Kainz.
King Ludwig II (r.) And Josef Kainz (l.) In 1881
Source: Arthur Synnberg
In 1881 the 36-year-old monarch and his 23-year-old (married) crush traveled incognito to Lake Lucerne. There Kainz was supposed to recite Schiller’s “Wilhelm Tell” to King Schiller at the original locations. At that time, a second photograph was taken: A ruling king is standing (!) Next to a seated subordinate, and what’s more, the latter touches them confidentially – which was later retouched. At the end of summer, of course, there was a row.
The iconography game from back then is unforgettable – and still arouses the most beautiful associations: In 2021 in the exhibition “Unheimlich Schön” in the Munich Hypo-Kunsthalle by photographer Erwin Olaf, who cleverly balances between advertising and artistic demands, the family portrait emerged. The Duke’s special photo assignment has only just been completed and a clear message to the audience.
Thomas Greinwald and Franz von Bayern, they have been a couple for many years. And make no secret of it. You can see them at opera premieres in the Wittelsbacher box of the National Theater and on the red carpet in Salzburg. They are accepted in Munich society, they decorate every aristocratic wedding. You don’t give a shit about it. As the people would say now.
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