Field Marshall Prince Arnulf of Bavaria recently announced his retirement from the First Army Corps of the Bavarian army, according to the Marquise de Fontenoy. The retirement has been attributed, at least, officially to ill health. Others insist that the Prince has retired due to a quarrel with his older brother, Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.
The Marquise notes that this quarrel recalls a "sensational affair" that the Prince had during the lifetime of the late King Ludwig.
Prince Arnulf apparently fell "deeply in love with Countess Alfred Dürckheim-Monmartin" and became so "assiduous in his attentions as to compromise her in the eyes of the public."
The prince's determination to woo her also caught the attention of the countess' husband, who tried to intervene and challenged the prince to a duel. Prince Arnulf accepted the call, and the duel was about to take place when King Ludwig "happened to hear about the matter."
Naturally, the king was furious with Prince Arnulf, and would not allow the duel to take place. He ordered the prince to "apologize to the count and countess. " He publicly reprimanded him "for his offensive conduct. The King appointed the count as his aide-de-camp, and the countess was given a position as lady-in-waiting to the widowed Queen Marie.
The Countess, born Countess Helen Bobrinsky, eventually divorced her husband. But it is not astonishing that the count became "deeply devoted to his eccentric sovereign" He remained with King Ludwig II until the latter's death.
Prince Arnulf was born June 8, 1852, in Munich. He is the youngest son of Prince Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, and Archduchess Augusta of Austria. He married Princess Therese of Liechtenstein in 1882. They have one son, Prince Heinrich, who was born in 1884.
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