Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria

Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria or Crown Prince Rupert of Bavaria (German: Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern) (18 May 1869 – 2 August 1955) was the last Bavarian Crown Prince.

Rupprecht was the son of Louis III, the last King of Bavaria and Maria Theresia, Princess of Modena , niece of Francis V, Duke of Modena. He commanded the German Sixth Army at the outbreak of World War I in Lorraine. Rupprecht succeeded in holding back the French attack in August 1914, in the Battle of Lorraine , and then launched a counteroffensive later that month. Rupprecht failed to break through the French lines and remained on the Western Front during the stalemate that would last until the end of the war. Rupprecht achieved the rank of Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) in 1916 and assumed command of Army Group Rupprecht. Rupprecht has been considered by some to be one of the best Royal commanders in the Germany Army of World War I.

Rupprecht married firstly, in 1900, Duchess Marie Gabriele in Bavaria, and secondly, in 1921, Princess Antonia of Luxembourg.

Rupprecht lost his chance to rule Bavaria when it became a republic in the revolutions that followed the war. Some royalists still referred to him as the King of Bavaria. Rupprecht was opposed to Nazism and was forced into exile in 1939. In 1944 he evaded arrest but his wife and children were captured and put into concentration camps until the end of the war. Rupprecht died in 1955.