Who was Herzog Max in Bavaria?

Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria was born on 4 December 1808 at
Bamberg. 

Family

He was the only son of Duke Pius August in Bavaria (1786-1837) and
his wife Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg. He was a member of
the junior branch of the royal House of Wittelsbach.

Love and Marriage

On 9 September 1828, at Tegernsee in Bavaria, a royal wedding took 
place. Then Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria married Princess
Ludovika of Bavaria. She was the sixth daughter of King Maximilian I
Joseph of Bavaria, his father's cousin.

Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika would have
10 children. He was the father of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi)
and the grandfather of Queen Elisabeth of Belgium.

Duty

In 1834 he purchased Possenhoven Castle on Lake Starnberg. This became
his major residence for the rest of his life. 

In 1838 Maximilian Joseph travelled to Egypt and Palestine. While climbing
the Great Pyramid he arranged for his servants to yodel as if they were 
climbing in the Alps. 

When Maximilian Joseph was in Jerusalem he paid for the restauration of
the Church of the Flagellation on the Via Dolorosa.

Maximilian Joseph was one of the most prominent promoters of Bavarian
Folk music in the 19th. century. 

During a visit by his cousin King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Ludwig saw some
sheet music on Maximilian Joseph's piano by the composer Richard Wagner
which led on to Ludwig's financial support for Wagner from 1863.

Death

Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria died on 15 November 1888, at the age
of 79 in Munich. 

He and his wife are buried in the family crypt in the Tegernsee Abbey. 

Source pictures: Wikipedia