At the time when Duke Max bought Possenhofen the Crown Prince had acquired the castle of Hohenschwangen in that same region and set a force of artists and architects at work to make it an ideal home for his bride. Prince Maximilian had spent the greater part of his youth in travel, and during a visit to the court of Berlin had first seen his future wife, then but four years of age. She was a daughter of Prince Karl of Prussia, and when he again met the Princess Marie as a lovely girl of sixteen, he fell in love with her on the spot. In the Autumn of 1841 he made a formal offer for her hand, and the marriage took place on the fifth of October, 1842. Like the ducal family, the youthful pair spent most of the year at Hohenschwangen, the two princes hunting and riding together, while a close friendship developed between the Crown Princess and the Duke’s young daughters, which was in no way interrupted by her becoming Queen of Bavaria. These daughters, the Wittelsbach sisters, were tenderly attached to one another and there was a strong family resemblance between them. Four had inherited their parents’ good looks, and Hélène, the oldest, while not so beautiful as the rest, was clever and clear-headed like her mother. Elizabeth and Maria both had a share of the family eccentricity; but of all the eight children, Maria was the only one endowed with Duke Max’s high spirits and cheerful, sunny nature. She also possessed to a marked degree the distinguished bearing and grace of movement so characteristic of the whole race, while added to the gentle sweetness of Elizabeth’s face, whom she much resembled, was an expression of strength and firmness unusual in one so young. The five sisters were brought up in the simplest manner, without regard to etiquette, and often walked about the streets of Munich without attendants of any kind. The Duke was much away from home and concerned himself little with his children’s education, except as to music, sport, and out-of-door exercise; but Ludovica was constantly with her daughters, and devoted her whole life to fitting them for the positions she was ambitious they should occupy.