German Kings in German Empire

So what did the other kings in the German Empire, that weren't the Emperor, do during this time? Did they actually administer their territories? Act like Governors of their areas? Or did they just live a life of luxury hunting, eating good food, and fucking women that weren't their wives?

They were the highest authority within those states, so yeah they spent most of their time doing fuck all and building castles while the local parliament deal with shit. It's important to note they had their own military units separate from the Deutsches Heer except in times of war

So what they would put down possible uprisings in their areas? What's the point of having your own standing army if it can be taken away during times of war?

Well, Ludwig II of Bavaria bankrupted himself building castles and being Wagner's patron, mind you, he bankrupted himself, not Bavaria
He was accused of mental illness by his ministers because he wouldn't stop his extravagant projects.

The last Bavarian king, Ludwig III, was deposed during WW1 because the Bavarians felt he was very pro-Prussian. Towards the end of the war Bavaria was very anti-Prussia.
He made territorial claims in Belgium and elsewhere for sea access, so the monarchy still did stuff I guess. Wanted to balance the power between Prussia and Bavaria within the empire.

Prestige, I suppose you could compare it to the whole muh militia thing in the USA where there's an assumption it would become active in any civil war (and it was when the whole 1918-1919 shitshow was happening and the Weimar government had no power)

Well, I think all 3 remaining kings were military officers during WW1 and did some commanding, from their homes, not front lines like the king of the Belgians.
For example when the war started the Bavarian king expressed his full support to the kaiser.
And Wilhelm gave them high military ranks.

So before the war they just did fuck all and laid about?

Yeah well that was basically what all of Europe did except the Balkans from 1871-1914

Did they even have any responsibilities or did they just strut around like peacocks?

They were part of the OOB, of course they had responsibilities

19th to 20th century western European monarchies were pretty much symbolic or with very little responsibilities.
Most of what they did was serve in the military, be patrons to artists, fund building projects, morale compass, set the fashion, represent their people in the empire (Germany mostly, the princes and their people were still pretty independent)

Nowadays the only monarchs that exercise any power, in practice, are Muslims and tax haven princes.

Being a king is not a job exactly, you are king by legitimacy not appointment, and what king does is reign, not necessarily govern.

If you visualise a state as a corporation, the king is a major shareholder, not an important employee.

The member states of the empire were constitutional monarchies, with the exception of the three city republics. The monarch possessed the Executive, so he was actually pretty important. Most decisions were made on state-level, the Reich's main domain was foreign policy.

>Did they actually administer their territories? Act like Governors of their areas? Or did they just live a life of luxury hunting, eating good food, and fucking women that weren't their wives?
This guy here did a grand job turning Saxony from a shithole into gem, invented porcelain, fathered a 150+ bastards and was able to bend horse shoes with his bare hands. At one point he was so popular that Poles elected him as their king. Also, he loved hunting and bling.

OP is asking about the time under Prussian unification

>19th to 20th century western European monarchies were pretty much symbolic or with very little responsibilities.

That's only true for some countries like the UK, in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and the Balkans the monarch still had a very important role in the constitution.

>invented porcelain

He was a 3,000 year old Chinaman? WOW!

Russia and the Balkans aren't Western Europe

And in both Austria-Hungary and Russia it was because the emperor/czar completely refused to change things
Franz Joseph spent his entire reign refusing change
Should clarify, mean late 19th

>New Swan Stone
What did that crazy motherfucker mean by this?

>Russia and the Balkans aren't Western Europe

I missed "Western". If you exclude Germany from Western Europe it's accurate for the late 19th century I guess.


>Franz Joseph spent his entire reign refusing change

There were quite some changes under his reign, the gradual introduction of general male suffrage for once.

There's an Old Swan Stone castle, built in the same valley by his father or grandfather.

>In the Middle Ages, three castles overlooked the villages. One was called Schwanstein Castle.[nb 1] In 1832, Ludwig's father King Maximilian II of Bavaria bought its ruins to replace them with the comfortable neo-Gothic palace known as Hohenschwangau Castle. Finished in 1837, the palace became his family's summer residence, and his elder son Ludwig (born 1845) spent a large part of his childhood here.

I so need to get back to Germany

>Wanted to balance the power between Prussia and Bavaria within the empire.
Wasn't Prussia like 2/3rds of the empire? How was a tiny state like Bavaria going to balance that out?

So taxes, business regulation, church policy, running of the schools were all left to the Kings and local parliaments?

Bavaria was easily the biggest state behind Prussia and had a lot of sway over all German Catholics including the kingdoms of Saxony and Wurttemburg

To some degree yes. Everybody doing his own stuff has been a thing since the HRE and it still is sometimes. Thats why northern Germany has such stupid students.

Germans Catholics = True Germs
t. Württembergian / Alsatian ancestors

...

I think it was only by land, not sure about population though.

In the Middle Ages how far would the guy who lived in the castle's authority go, typically? Just to the village and little bit of surrounding area? Or full on for miles and miles around?

The Reich got a bunch of minor taxes. Its main independent income came from customs, followed by taxes for liquor, salt and sugar. Its largest expenditures concerned the army and the navy. Since the Reich's tax and customs revenue was not sufficient, the member states periodically transferred a certain amount of money to the Reich.

Being a little critical. Ruprecht was huge in the military its not like they were just shrugging it off.