bavarikon4UGold Medal for the Golden Wedding Anniversary of King Ludwig III and Queen Marie Therese on 11 February 1918
On 11 February 1918, the Bavarian royal couple, Ludwig III. (1845-1921) and Marie Therese (1849-1919), celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in a magnificent setting. The festivities were intended to restore the reputation of the royal house, which had already lost much of its magic during the war. For this reason, numerous paintings, coins and commemorative medals were created for the anniversary. In addition, the royal couple set up a state and trousseau trust, from which the present-day state charity "Hilfe für Mutter und Kind" emerged.
However, the Bavarian population was tired of war and mainly perceived the five-day festival as a provocation. WWI, in which tens of thousands of Bavarian soldiers had already died, had been raging for three and a half years. Food had become scarce in the Bavarian cities since the spring of 1915. In the face of these hardships, monarchical symbolism no longer had the desired effect. At the end of January 1918, shortly before the celebrations of the royal couple, thousands of ammunition workers had gone on strike in Munich and demanded an immediate peace agreement.