After the marriage of the Duchess, a rumour was spread abroad that Ludwig was again about to become engaged. He made a trip, in the strictest incognito, from Hohenschwangau to Friedrichshafen on Bodensee, travelling under the name of "Graf von Schyren," and accompanied by a single servant. The King and Queen of Würtemberg had invited him to visit them. Queen Olga, a Russian princess, who had relinquished with regret the hope of seeing the Archduchess Maria Queen of Bavaria, had at this juncture planned a new engagement. Princess Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont [15] was on a visit to the royal couple. The Queen had made up her mind that this young lady, who was exceedingly musical and a great admirer of Wagner's compositions, should make the acquaintance of the King of Bavaria, with the view of a possible matrimonial alliance between them. Ludwig appeared to be attracted by the Princess, who in her turn was charmed with the gallant and intellectual Monarch. The day spent at Friedrichshafen passed quickly and pleasantly. Evening came, and Ludwig thought of returning to his home. While he and the Princess were still sitting together at the piano he became restless. He remarked that it was getting late, and that the time for his departure was at hand. Almost immediately he rose to depart. He took a warm farewell of the Princess, and a no less hearty one of the King and Queen of Würtemberg, promising that he would soon come again and perhaps stay longer. From the steamer, which had been waiting for him, he waved several times to the King and Queen, and the Princess, who were standing on the quay looking after him.
He never came back, however, and apparently forgot both the charming day in Friedrichshafen and Princess Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont.
Ludwig and the Artistes of the Stage--Josephine Schefzky
His subjects began to give up the hope of seeing their King a husband. Several political parties, however, hoped that they might be able to influence him through a mistress. Their expectations were disappointed also in this. After the breaking-off of his engagement, the fair sex played but a small part in the King's life. He seems to have looked upon women with the same eyes as the poet Holberg, who in one of his letters writes that he regards them as "pretty pictures"--to be looked at, but not to be touched! Those who knew Ludwig are entirely agreed that he never felt real love for any woman, not even for his betrothed wife, though at one time he appeared to do so. To Richard Wagner, he said at one of their first meetings: "You do not like women either, do you? They are such bores!"