Maximilian von Holnstein

Count Maximilian Carl Theodor von Holnstein aus Bayern (19 October 1835 – 1 February 1895) was a German nobleman who was a playmate of princes Ludwig and Otto (both later kings of Bavaria), and friend of Ludwig on his accession as Ludwig II. Count Maximilian brought Ludwig's "Kaiserbrief" to Otto von Bismarck. Early life Holnstein was born on 19 October 1835 in Munich, Germany. He was the eldest surviving son of celebrated beauty Caroline Maximiliana Maria, Baroness von Spiering (1815–1859) and her first husband, Carl Theodor, Count Holnstein from Bayern (1797–1857). After his father's death, his mother remarried to Wilhelm, Baron von Künsberg, and had a daughter, Wilhelmine Maria Caroline von Künsberg (wife of Friedrich von Breidbach-Bürresheim). His maternal grandparents were Carl Theodor Baron von Spiering of Schloss Fronberg and his wife Johanna Nepumukena (née Baroness von Enzberg). His paternal grandparents were Maximilian Joseph, Count of Holnstein, married to Princess Maria Josepha of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (eldest daughter of Prince Charles Albert II). He was the great-grandson of Count Franz Ludwig von Holnstein, the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles VII of Bavaria and his mistress Maria Caroline Charlotte von Ingenheim. From an early age, Holnstein was playmate and confidants of the Bavarian princes Ludwig (King Ludwig II from 1864) and Otto (King Otto I from 1886).