Hohenschwangau was the official summer and hunting residence of Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia, and their two sons Ludwig (the later King Ludwig II of Bavaria) and Otto (the later King Otto I of Bavaria). The young princes spent many years of their adolescence here. The King and the Queen lived in the main building, and the boys in the annex.
Hohenschwangau Village on left, Schloss Hohenschwangau on right, as seen from Neuschwanstein Castle.
King Maximilian died in 1864 and his son Ludwig succeeded to the throne, moving into his father's room in the castle. As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie was able to continue living on her floor. King Ludwig enjoyed living in Hohenschwangau, especially after 1869 when the building of his own castle, Neuschwanstein, began only a stone's throw from his parental home.After Ludwig's death in 1886, Queen Marie was the castle's only resident until she in turn died in 1889.