His subjects are greatly impressed with their young king and have great hopes for him. The totally unprepared Ludwig assumes the government affairs but he has the best of intentions:

"I will do everything in my power to make my people happy", he writes to his former teacher.

King Ludwig is not an absolute ruler but no law can pass without his signature.

In the beginning he still shows himself to his people by attending excursions, granting audiences and at the annual Corpus Christy procession or the Oktoberfest. In the years to follow Ludwig develops more and more into an unsociable, egocentric individual and withdraws himself from the real world and his subjects to devote himself into the superficial world of his ideals.

Ludwig II. has only been King of Bavaria for a short time when he expressed the wish to meet Richard Wagner. In April 1864 he sent cabinet secretary Franz von Pfistermeister, along with a ring and a royal letter, to find Richard Wagner and bring him to Munich. At the end of a long and confusing journey through Austria and southern Germany, the secretary find the composer in Stuttgart where he was hiding from his creditors. On May 5 1864 the monarch and the composer meet for the first time. After their first meeting in May 1864, King Ludwig writes to Richard Wagner:

"Be assured that I will do everything in my power to make up for your suffering of the past."

At the time Richard Wagner is in deep financial troubles, he is sickly and homeless. The king is his salvation. After his audience with King Ludwig II. he writes:

"...he loves me with the sincerity and glow of a first love... I am to complete the Nibelungen....he will give me everything necessary for me to perform my works. I shall be relieved of all problems. Can that be anything but a dream?"

The composer's debts are paid, he receives the impressive salary of 4000 guilders and is able to move into a large house in Munich.

Preparations begin for the performance of "Tristan und Isolde".

More than 20 rehearsals place. Stage scenery and costumes swallow up large
amounts of money. Following several postponements the day of the premiere the king had waited for so long finally arrives on June 10 1865. The king is received with loud cheers and fanfare in the royal Court Theater. The public breaks out into enormous storms of applause. It is a great triumph for Wager as well as for Ludwig.

Nevertheless, this triumph can not hide the fact that Richard Wagner had made enemies for some time. His extravagant and pompous style of living and his arrogant appearance make an unfavorable impression and when he attempts to influence the king politically, the king comes under much public pressure. To avoid more ugliness Richard Wagner has to leave Munich in the early morning hours of December 10 1865.

The king is intensely disturbed about this development. He talks about abdicating and suicide. Wagner begs him to be patient and in no way to up the throne. Of course Ludwig does not abdicate and continues to pay Richard Wagner an annual salary and pays for the lease of his new villa in Switzerland.