The closest female friend Ludwig has is Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria. She is Sophie's sister, but somehow she has managed to hold Ludwig's personal attention further than her sister did. The king did not love her, or feel anything remotely along those lines, but rather treated her as a sister and true companion. She was at times the female to whom he revealed his secrets and his deepest passions. She in turn, was faithful to him, and a good friend until his death. Their closeness was very tight and they respected each other profoundly.

Elizabeth is quite a woman. She became Empress of Austria, even while Ludwig lived, and held her head up with dignity. She is brave, sympathetic, vivacious, and daring. She holds the same love of horses Ludwig has, as well as other things in common. She is kind to him, comprehending his mind and madness. But, she is also a woman of darkness. Her own love life is strife. Franz, her lover, both adores her and wishes her dead, several times attempting to kill her. Ludwig did not know of her love for her would-be-assasin until the king's men killed him, trying to save her. Painfully ignoring that Ludwig had been responsible for the death of the man she loved, Elizabeth continued her relationship with Ludwig, whom she treated as a younger brother, advising him and comforting him when the world seemed to fall on his shoulders. It seemed the two of them stood in a world of their own, where only they could see each other and understand themselves.

Yet, while these two women and Wagner's company were very dear to him, Ludwig's heart ached for a true companion, one he found when he met Richard Hornig. Blond, with crystal blue eyes, Hornig came into the king's service as part of his stable hands. He was not simply a stable boy, though. He helped the king in various tasks, such as his personal affairs. Hornig was Ludwig's lackey, waiting on him at every hour, but the young man didn't mind. Hornig's soul was a happy one, and a simple one, and this drew Ludwig to the young man. Hornig refused at first to be treated as an object, or as another of the king's boys, and Ludwig refused to admit that what he felt for the young man was love. But, the king's heart began to reach out towards the young man, and Hornig's soul began to bleed for the love he wanted from Ludwig.

Richard Hornig was not the only male lover Ludwig had, though. Before the young blond, Ludwig had searched for the kind of affection Hornig gave him in other men. He tried to find love by giving these men riches and presents, such as expensive watches. Sooner or later, these men would inform him that they did not share his feelings, move away and marry other women, or simply stop their friendship with him altogether.

One of these men was Count Varicourt, a youthful man of beautiful looks. Count Varicourt came into Ludwig's life wanting to use the king's innocent lavishness, and had faked to be a distant relative of King Louis XIV, the "Sun King" of France, whom Ludwig admired a lot.

Pompous, greedy, and a self centred fool, Count Varicourt led the king to believe this lie, and the king confused their friendship with love, since he began to lust for the young man. They shared a deep relationship, through letters and meetings, but Count Varicourt does not love him. Ludwig discovered that his lust was, indeed, unreal, and abandoned all attempts to find love with him.

His other biggest love affair, with Prince Taxis, was of a different sort. The prince and Ludwig held a candid friendship in which they staged scenes of Wagner's operas together, spent time with one another, and consummated their love deeply. Whenever Prince Taxis would go abroad, they sent each other extensive letters of love. The young, beautiful prince held a high place in Ludwig's favour, and he showered him with presents and adoration. The young man was beauty incarnated, and Ludwig's human version of Lohengin. Still, Prince Taxis began to displease Ludwig and the king began to draw away from him, much about the same time he met Hornig. Prince Taxis began to notice that Ludwig's heart was jumping each time Hornig was present, and he slowly began to realize that Ludwig had fallen in love with the young stable boy. The prince, being a sensible man, said goodbye to Ludwig, who in turn wished him a good life. Prince Taxis later married.
Still, it was in his mind, where Ludwig met with the greatest difficulties.

Prince Otto, Ludwig's little brother, began to fall into madness short after both entered the Franco-Prussian war with Otto von Bismarck. The king had wanted to avoid that war for a long time, and began to hate it even more after his brother was brought home from the Versailles peace conference he was to attend, suffering from intense exhaustion and violent tremors. Prince Otto had been claimed by the hereditary madness Ludwig's family line possessed, and soon began to waste the young man. Ludwig did not want to believe this, feeling sorry for him and fearing the disease would claim him as well, and sent his brother away. The royal doctors diagnosed Otto as simply exhausted and stressed, fearing the king's anger and due to their lack of medical resources. But, Ludwig couldn't stop the madness from taking his brother and when he got worse, Ludwig sent him away to solitary confinement in an isolated castle, where Otto sank into the darkness of lunacy until his death.

Ludwig feared becoming mad himself with delirium, and so did the Court. But, there was little anyone could do. The Court did not only fear Ludwig's madness, they gave him to be already sunken into it, due to his eccentric behaviour and his demanding personality. Ludwig faced a dark knife, one that would tear his existence apart, when they began to accuse him of being crazy. The Court and some outside parties wanted to eliminate Ludwig and give the throne to another ruler. Some favoured Luitpold, Ludwig's uncle, and began a tedious, wicked plot to drive the king from the throne. To them, Ludwig was deranged beyond ruling capacity, unable to hold Bavaria in its place, and unable to handle the wars. Ludwig was upset when he discovered that he had enemies, and was troubled immensely, but sad to say, he remained mostly unaware that any such parties existed, until it was too late.

When Ludwig's brother Otto was brought home from the Versailles peace conference in 1871, Ludwig sent Holnstein in his place, even though his advisors disagreed with his choice. At Versailles, the Count met with Otto von Bismarck. It was during this meeting that the infamous Kaiserbrief was drafted by Bismarck, given to Holnstein in order for the king to re-write in his own hand. In the Kaiserbrief Ludwig left orders for his uncle Luitpold to receive the throne of Bavaria after his descent or death. Ludwig wrote out the letter unwillingly. His opinion of his uncle Luitpold was not very high.

In addition to forcing Ludwig to re-write the Kaiserbrief, Holnstein also masterminded a cruel plan by which he took momentary possession of Hornig's key. He hired some men to cruelly rape and beat Hornig, taking the key after they had stripped him of all his clothing. In order to clear himself of blame, Holnstein himself searched out Ludwig and helped him find the young stable hand. He later returns the key to the king, simply claiming that he found it lying around outside. Schemes such as this earned Holnstein the weary, troubled eye of Hornig, yet the king himself remained partially blind to the Counts doings; but it was Holnstein who called for Ludwig's imprisonment in Castle Berg, the Court's charges of lunacy against the king finally taking form. There, he was charged with being the king's companion, something which Ludwig resented deeply. Historically, he remainedunperturbed by the king's death or the charges of lunacy, but You makes him feel pity for the king.