Princess Ludovika of Bavaria

Maria Ludovika Wilhelmine was born to King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Caroline of Baden as their sixth child. The birth of Ludovika was known to be difficult.^{[citation needed]} Ludovika was christened one day after her birth as Ludovika Wilhelmine.

Ludovika and her sisters received many lessons in literature as well as geography and history. They spoke both German and French.^[1]

Among her sisters were Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Prussia, and two Queens of Saxony, her older sisters Amalie and Maria Anna.

Ludovika married Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria, whose father Duke Pius August in Bavaria was her cousin, on 9 September 1828 in Tegernsee. Ludovika was always frustrated that, unlike her elder sisters who married kings and Archdukes, she would not be marrying someone with a grand title, but rather a peculiar and childish duke who had a fondness for circuses. Ludovika was determined to create dynastic marriages for her daughters. According to her granddaughter:

The marriage of my grandparents was, like most of the family's matrimonial ventures, somewhat of a failure. [...] My grandparents walks unattended down the corridor which led to their bridal chamber, and my grandmother's aversion to her husband suddenly became so acute that she decided she could not and would not allow him to share her room that night. A happy thought seized her as they passed one of the half-open doors; the bride expressed some curiosity to know what was inside, so the bridegroom obligingly went to investigate, and, once inside, my grandmother locked him in, put the key in her pocket, and ran away. [...] After this black beginning of their married life, it is hardly surprising that my grandparents were not on the best of terms, and during the last years of their life, although they lived under the same roof, they rarely met.^[2]

She and her husband had ten children, including Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Queen Maria Sofia of the Two Sicilies.^[3]

Maximilian was mostly away from home; due to this, Ludovika wrote that she spent their first wedding anniversary alone and wept. In 1830, Ludovika found herself pregnant with their first child. On 21 June 1831, she gave birth to a son whom they named Ludwig Wilhelm.

She had a total of 10 children.