Crown Prince Rupprecht von Bayern (18 May 1869-2 August 1955) was the crown prince of Bavaria from 1913 to 1918 and was a Field Marshal of the German Empire during World War I.
Biography[]
Rupprecht was born in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, and was descended from German, Italian, Norman, and French nobles; he was related to Louis XIV of France and William the Conqueror. From 1889 to 1891 he studied at the University of Munich and in 1906 he commanded the 1st Army Corps of the Bavarian Army.
At the outbreak of World War I he commanded the 6th Army in Lorraine and was made a Field Marshal in July 1916. He fought in the stalemate on the Western Front after the Battle of the Frontiers, and commanded an army group. Considered the only royal commander fit to command such an army, he was one of the best imperial commanders of the Great War.
In 1939, having never given up his claims to the German throne, he was exiled to Italy and his wife and family were taken into a concentration camp. He died in Bavaria after Nazi Germany's fall.