Leopold Prinz von Bayern

Leopold Prinz von Bayern
Leopold in 2011
Born	(1943-06-21) 21 June 1943 (age 81) Schloss Umkirch near Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Spouse	Ursula Möhlenkamp ​ (m. 1977)​
Issue	Prince Manuel Princess Maria del Pilar Princess Maria Felipa Prince Konstantin
Names German: Leopold Rupprecht Ludwig Ferdinand Adalbert Friedrich Maria et omnes sancti Prinz von Bayern
House	Wittelsbach
Father	Prince Konstantin of Bavaria
Mother	Princess Maria Adelgunde of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Leopold Rupprecht Ludwig Ferdinand Adalbert Friedrich Maria et omnes sancti Prinz von Bayern (born 21 June 1943) is a member of the Bavarian royal house of Wittelsbach and a former champion race car driver. He descends from King Ludwig I of Bavaria in direct line and is a distant relative to the current head of the House of Wittelsbach, Franz, Duke of Bavaria and his brother, Maximilian, Duke in Bavaria. He also descends from Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth and from King George II of Great Britain, and is therefore a distant cousin of Elizabeth II. As a Roman Catholic he is excluded from the line for the British throne by the Act of Settlement 1701. He also descends from Isabella II of Spain, through her daughter, and Leopold's great-grandmother, María de la Paz. He has a claim to the Throne of Portugal.

Early life

Leopold (aka "Poldi") was born on Schloss Umkirch near Freiburg im Breisgau in Baden-Württemberg. He is the eldest son of Prince Konstantin of Bavaria and his first wife Princess Maria Adelgunde of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Since his parents separated soon after he was born, Leopold was raised by his grandparents Prince Friedrich von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Princess Margarete Karola of Saxony. He grew up on Schloss Umkirch together with his uncle Prince Ferfried (aka "Foffie") who is only two months his senior. It was there the Prince developed his love for cars and racing.

Marriage

On 21 October 1977 Prince Leopold married Ursula (Uschi) Möhlenkamp, the daughter of Wilhelm (Willi) Möhlenkamp and Ingeborg Brauckmann. The civil ceremony took place at Berg on Lake Starnberg in Bavaria. The religious ceremony followed a month later, on 19 November 1977 in Aufkirchen, Bavaria. Initially the union was considered morganatic, but on 3 March 1999 the marriage was decreed to be conditionally dynastic in accordance with the Bavarian house laws. The couple have four children:

• Prince Manuel Maria Alexander Leopold Jörg of Bavaria (b. out of wedlock on 27 December 1972, Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany); married Princess Anna of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (b. 1978) in 2005. They have four children:
  • Prince Leopold Maria Bengt Karl Manuel of Bavaria (b. 13 June 2007).
  • Princess Alva Manuelle Maria Petra Yvonne of Bavaria (b. 5 January 2010).
  • Prince Gabriel Maria Abraham Ludwig Theodor of Bavaria (b. 11 November 2014). ^[1]
  • Prince Joseph Carlos Maria Paul Melchior of Bavaria (b. 18 July 2019).
• Princess Maria del Pilar Birgitta Adelgunde Charlotte of Bavaria (b. 3 May 1978, Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany).
• Princess Maria Felipa Karin Marion Gabriele of Bavaria (b. 1 February 1981, Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany); married Christian Alexander Dienst (b. 1978) at Wies Church, Steingaden, Bavaria, Germany on 12 May 2012. ^[2] They have three sons:
  • August Maria Jürgen Leopold Dienst (b. 2013).
  • Ferdinand Maria Konstantin Joachim Dienst (b. 2014).
  • Otto Dienst (b. 2017).
• Prince Konstantin Eugen Alexander Max-Emanuel Maria Ludwig Ferdinand Leopold of Bavaria (b. 8 November 1986, Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany); married Deniz Kaya (b. 1990), at St. Moritz's Eglise au Bois church, St Moritz, Switzerland, on 1 September 2018. ^[3]
  • Prince Alexis of Bavaria (b. January 2020).
  • Prince Nikolaus of Bavaria (b. 10 August 2023).

Later life

The Prince resides in a villa on the Lake Starnberg south of Munich, capital of Bavaria, and is often seen in the company of the current Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, whom he has known since his teens. He is a godfather to King Carl Gustaf's only son, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden. His maternal uncle Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern was King Carl Gustaf's brother-in-law. Prince Leopold is also involved with charitable causes helping disabled children, such as the Special Olympics and organizations promoting the use of animal-assisted therapy. This is in part because his oldest daughter Princess Pilar has a form of autism, which she developed as a baby after she was given the wrong anesthetic during heart surgery. ^[4] On October 28, 2022, he was one of the two delegates who accompannied Elvis Presley's 1957 BMW 507, chassis # 70079, (and worth NOK 180,000,000, or $18,000,000), from its special exhibit at the BMW Welt Museum in Munich, Germany into that year's Oslo Motor Show, the other being Norbert Knerr from BMW Welt.

Motor Racing career

Prince Leopold started his career with rallying and in 1969 moved to touring car racing winning the North American Championships with Porsche in 1972. In 1984 he also took part in the legendary sports car endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Walter Brun and Bob Akin, finishing fourth. In 1986, Leopold became a factory driver for the Munich based car manufacturer BMW and although he retired from competitive racing in 1998, he remains involved with the BMW racing team as an adviser.

As well as competing in Europe and America, Prince Leopold competed in Australia also with a drive the 1984 James Hardie 1000 driving a Group A BMW 635 CSi for Frank Gardner's factory backed JPS Team BMW, partnering 1967 Formula One World Champion Denny Hulme. In Australian touring car racing Group A was only a minor class introduced for the endurance races in 1984 before taking over as top class in 1985. After a troubled week which included losing a day after the Prince crashed the BMW at the top of The Mountain due to a lost front wheel, the pair finished the race in 15th place and 2nd in class, 4 laps behind the class winning TWR Rover Vitesse and 15 laps behind the race winning Holden Dealer Team Commodore. von Bayern (and Hulme) both had a new experience while racing at Bathurst in 1984. Their BMW was equipped with a racecam unit fitted in place of the left front headlight and both drivers were able to talk to the Channel 7 television commentary team while they were driving with the Prince saying at one point that "The race is very much fun for me". ^[5]

Racing record

Complete World Sportscar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Pos.	Pts
1971	International Martini Racing Team	P 3.0	Porsche 908/02	Porsche 908 3.0 F8	BUE	DAY	SEB	BRH	MNZ	SPA	TAR	NÜR DNS	LMS	ÖST	GLN					[N 1]
1972	Tony Fischhaber	GT +2.0	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.4 F6	BUE	DAY	SEB	BRH	MNZ	SPA	TAR	NÜR 14	LMS	ÖST	GLN					[N 1]
1973	Tony Fischhaber	GT +1.6	Porsche 911 Carrera RS	Porsche 2.7 F6	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MNZ	SPA	TAR	NÜR 14	LMS	ÖST	GLN						[N 1]
1977	Jörg Obermoser	S 3.0	Toj SC302	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	DIJ	MNZ	VAL	PER	EST	LEC Ret	IMO	SAL								[N 2]
1981	Helmut Marko RSM	GT	BMW M1	BMW M88 3.5 L6	DAY	SEB	MUG	MNZ	RSD	SIL	NÜR	LMS Ret	PER	DAY	GLN	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH	NC	0
1983	Brun Motorsport	B	BMW M1	BMW M88 3.5 L6	MNZ	SIL	NÜR Ret	LMS Ret	SPA	FUJ										64th	4
	R. Joest/Warsteiner	C	Porsche 936C	Porsche 935 2.8 F6 t							KYA 7
1984	Brun Motorsport	C1	Porsche 956B	Porsche Type 935/76 2.6 F6 t	MNZ	SIL	LMS 4													25th	25
			Porsche 956					NÜR 9	BRH 8	MOS	SPA
	Porsche Kremer Racing		Porsche 956B									IMO 4	FUJ	KYA	SAN
1985	Brun Motorsport	C1	Porsche 956B	Porsche Type 935/76 2.6 F6 t	MUG DNS	MNZ	SIL	LMS	HOC	MOS	SPA	BRH	FUJ	SHA						NC	0

Footnotes

1. No drivers' Championship.
2. In 1976 and 1977 the World Championship was divided into two series that ran simultaneously but separately: The World Sportscar Championship and the World Championship for Makes.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1981	Helmut Marko RSM	Christian Danner Peter Oberndofer	BMW M1	GT	49	DNF	DNF
1983	Brun Motorsport GmbH	Angelo Pallavicini Jens Winther	BMW M1	B	160	DNF	DNF
1984	Brun Motorsport GmbH	Walter Brun Bob Akin	Porsche 956B	C1	340	4th	4th
Source: [6]

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos.	Pts
1984	Brun Motorsport	BMW 635 CSi	ZOL 4	HOC Ret	AVU 5	AVU 2	MFA 12	WUN Ret	NÜR	NÜR	NOR	NÜR 6	DIE	HOC Ret	HOC 8	ZOL 5	NÜR										10th	72.5
1988	Euro Racing	BMW M3	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	BRN 1	BRN 2	AVU 1	AVU 2	MFA 1	MFA 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NOR 1 16	NOR 2 20	WUN 1	WUN 2	SAL 1	SAL 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	46th	3
1989	GS Team	BMW M3 Evo	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	MFA 1 DNQ	MFA 2 16	AVU 1 Ret	AVU 2 Ret	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NOR 1 25	NOR 2 19	HOC 1	HOC 2	DIE 1 DNQ	DIE 2 18	NÜR 1 23	NÜR 2 25	HOC 1 27	HOC 2 14			36th	9
1990	BMW Team Isert	BMW M3 Sport Evo	ZOL 1 15	ZOL 2 Ret	HOC 1 DNQ	HOC 2 DNQ	NÜR 1 15	NÜR 2 11	AVU 1 17	AVU 2 13	MFA 1 20	MFA 2 19	WUN 1 17	WUN 2 15	NÜR 1 14	NÜR 2 17	NOR 1 9	NOR 2 18	DIE 1 17	DIE 2 21	NÜR 1 24	NÜR 2 24	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 DNS			29th	2
1991	BMW Team Isert	BMW M3 Sport Evo	ZOL 1 26	ZOL 2 Ret	HOC 1 22	HOC 2 Ret	NÜR 1 27	NÜR 2 Ret	AVU 1 20	AVU 2 22	WUN 1	WUN 2	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 DNS	DIE 1 19	DIE 2 10	NÜR 1 21	NÜR 2 Ret	ALE 1 15	ALE 2 DNS	HOC 1 18	HOC 2 22	BRN 1	BRN 2	DON 1	DON 2	29th	1
1992	BMW Team Isert	BMW M3 Sport Evo	ZOL 1 18	ZOL 2 Ret	NÜR 1 25	NÜR 2 Ret	WUN 1 21	WUN 2 14	AVU 1 18	AVU 2 14	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 13	NÜR 1 16	NÜR 2 17	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 15	BRN 1 10	BRN 2 14	DIE 1 Ret	DIE 2 Ret	ALE 1 Ret	ALE 2 DNS	NÜR 1 13	NÜR 2 14	HOC 1 15	HOC 2 Ret	25th	1

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1984	JPS Team BMW	Denny Hulme	BMW 635 CSi	Group A	148	15th	2nd

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1987	Schwaben Motorsport	BMW M3	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NÜR Ret	SPA	BRN	SIL Ret	BAT	CLD Ret	WEL 12	FUJ	NC	0

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos.	Pts
1994	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW 318i	AUT 1 10	AUT 2 9	SUG 1 7	SUG 2 7	TOK 1	TOK 2	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	MIN 1 Ret	MIN 2 DNS	AID 1 10	AID 2 6	TSU 1 15	TSU 2 DNS	SEN 1 7	SEN 2 8	FUJ 1 DNS	FUJ 2 DNS	15th	24
1995	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW 318i	FUJ 1	FUJ 2	SUG 1 9	SUG 2 9	TOK 1 13	TOK 2 16	SUZ 1 9	SUZ 2 9	MIN 1	MIN 2	AID 1	AID 2	SEN 1	SEN 2	FUJ 1	FUJ 2			20th	8

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos.	Pts
1996	Isert BMW-Team	BMW 320i	ZOL 1 11	ZOL 2 12	ASS 1 Ret	ASS 2 DSQ	HOC 1 15	HOC 2 Ret	SAC 1	SAC 2	WUN 1	WUN 2	ZWE 1 Ret	ZWE 2 DNS	SAL 1 18	SAL 2 15	AVU 1 Ret	AVU 2 15	NÜR 1 22	NÜR 2 18			24th	67
1997	Isert BMW-Team	BMW 320i	HOC 1 29	HOC 2 17	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	NÜR 1 15	NÜR 2 14	SAC 1 17	SAC 2 10	NOR 1 26	NOR 2 DNS	WUN 1 16	WUN 2 21	ZWE 1 26	ZWE 2 18	SAL 1 26	SAL 2 23	REG 1 17	REG 2 15	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	22nd	85
1998	Team Isert	BMW 320i	HOC 1 20	HOC 2 6	NÜR 1 20	NÜR 2 20	SAC 1 20	SAC 2 16	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 16	REG 1 18	REG 2 Ret	WUN 1 Ret	WUN 2 16	ZWE 1 17	ZWE 2 21	SAL 1 17	SAL 2 Ret	OSC 1 19	OSC 2 18	NÜR 1 17	NÜR 2 Ret	23rd	98

Notes

1. "Sie erwarten ihr viertes Kind". GALA (in German). 28 May 2019.
2. "Princess Felipa, Bavarian Princess, Weds Christian Dienst In Germany". HuffPost. 12 May 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
3. Sisavat, Monica (1 September 2018). "We're Mesmerised by Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia's Appearance at This Royal Wedding". PopSugar. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
4. Ich habe einen Traum: Seine königliche Hoheit Prinz Leopold von Bayern gehört dem Adelsgeschlecht der Wittelsbacher an, das fast 800 Jahre lang regierte, bis 1918 die Monarchie abgeschafft wurde. Er träumt vom Fortleben seiner Seele als Geist | Nachr...
5. 1984 Bathurst 1000, The Prince Joins RaceCams 5th Birthday
6. "All Results of Leopold von Bayern". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved June 21, 2018.

References

• Die Wittelsbacher. Geschichte unserer Familie. Adalbert, Prinz von Bayern. Prestel Verlag, München, 1979
• Prinz und Demokrat. Konstantin von Bayern: Ein Gedenkbuch. Konstantin, Prinz von Bayern and Arens, Hanns. München; Wien : Langen/Müller, 1970
• Ich habe einen Traum. DIE ZEIT, 18 September 2003. Nr.39
• Elvis Presley’s Historical BMW 507 On Display at the Oslo Motor Show! Daily Scandinavian, November 21, 2022.