Prince Leopold Clement Philipp August Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (19 July 1878 – 27 April 1916) was an Austro-Hungarian officer and the

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

to the wealth of the

House of Koháry The House of Koháry () was the name of an ancient and wealthy Hungarian noble family with seats at Csábrág and Szitnya (now Čabraď and Sitno Castle) and the palace of Szentantal (now Svätý Anton, Slovakia). History Origin The origin ...

. His death in a

murder–suicide A murder–suicide is an act where an individual intentionally kills one or more people before killing themselves. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms: * Suicide after or during murder inflicted on others ** Suicide af ...

shocked the royal courts of Austria and Germany.

Background

Prince Leopold Clement was the elder child and only son born in the troubled marriage of

Princess Louise of Belgium Princess Louise Marie Amélie of Belgium (18 February 1858 – 1 March 1924) was the eldest child and daughter of King Leopold II and Marie Henriette of Austria, Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium. She was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg an ...

and

Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Ferdinand Philipp Maria August Raphael of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (28 March 1844 – 3 July 1921) was the second prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and lord of Csábrág and , both in modern-day Slovakia. Life Born in the Tuileries Palace in Pari ...

, both of whom were Roman Catholic members of the

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ( ; ) is a European royal house of German origin. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal ...

. He shared his name with his maternal grandfather,

King Leopold II of Belgium Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Le ...

, and a number of other Coburger relatives. Prince Leopold Clement was the sole heir to the wealth his father's family had inherited from their ancestress,

Princess Maria Antonia Koháry Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for t ...

Fatal affair

Hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

captain in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

, Prince Leopold Clement met a Viennese girl named Camilla Rybicka at a charity

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

in 1907. Rybicka was one of the daughters of Court Councillor Rybicki, an officer in the Vienna State Police. Then in her early twenties, she belonged to high society, but was nevertheless a

commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

. The two soon started a romantic relationship. Rybicka left the family home, and the two travelled around the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

before settling down in an apartment in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Rybicka, however, was not satisfied with being only the Prince's lover and demanded that he marry her. In

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 1 July 1914, Prince Leopold Clement wrote her a letter, promising to marry her within six months, naming her his sole heir, and requesting his father to pay her 2 million

Austro-Hungarian krone The krone (alternatively crown; , , , , , , , , , ) was the official currency of Austria-Hungary from 1892 (when it replaced the Austro-Hungarian gulden, gulden as part of the adoption of the gold standard) until the dissolution of the empire in ...

s in the event of his death. After Prince Leopold Clement was called to fight in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she insisted that he marry her before leaving. Leopold Clement was aware that such a mesalliance would have deprived him of the fortune he stood to inherit because his father had no intention of permitting the union, and that marrying Rybicka would have forced him to resign his

officer's commission An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

. When her pleas, intrigues and threats all failed to secure her marriage to Leopold Clement, she was offered 4 million Austro-Hungarian krones as compensation. On 17 October 1915, the Prince called her to his first-floor flat in Vienna to say goodbye and sign the cheque, but Rybicka did not intend to take the money. Instead, she fired five shots at him at close range and then smashed a bottle of

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

in his face, before firing the sixth bullet through her own heart. Neighbours testified that they heard him scream in agony. The half-naked Rybicka was lying dead by the bed when the police came, but the Prince was alive on the floor and still screaming. Rybicka was

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in December 1915. Having lost an eye and much of the flesh on his face, Prince Leopold Clement died after six months of suffering. His remains were interred in the vault of St. Augustin in

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

Aftermath

Following the death of his only son, Prince Philipp bequeathed his fortune to his grandnephew, Prince Philipp Josias. The deaths of Prince Leopold Clement and Camilla Rybicka shocked the royal courts of Austria and Germany. They were reminiscent of the 1889

Mayerling incident The Mayerling incident is the series of events surrounding the apparent murder–suicide suicide pact, pact of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and his mistress, baroness Mary Vetsera. They were found dead on 30 January 1889 in an imperial ...

, a murder–suicide involving

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (Rudolf Franz Karl Josef; 21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889) was the only son and third child of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. He was heir apparent to the imperial throne of the Austro ...

, Prince Leopold Clement's maternal uncle, and Rudolf's teenage mistress,

Baroness Mary Vetsera Baroness Marie Alexandrine "Mary" von Vetsera (19 March 1871 – 30 January 1889) was an Austrian nobility, Austrian noblewoman and the Mistress (lover), mistress of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Vetsera and the crown prince were found dead ...

Honours

Ernestine duchies The Ernestine duchies (), also known as the Saxon duchies (, although the Albertine appanage duchies of Weissenfels, Merseburg and Zeitz were also "Saxon duchies" and adjacent to several Ernestine ones), were a group of small states whose numb ...

: Grand Cross of the

Saxe-Ernestine House Order The Saxe-Ernestine House Order ()Hausorden
Herzogliche Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha was a ...

, ''1896'' * : Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest Order (decoration), order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the Collar of the Order was added on 4 January 1888. Unlike European counterparts, the order may be Posthumous award, ...

, ''9 February 1907'' * : Grand Cordon of the Order of the Golden Ruler, ''27 February 1907''

Ancestry

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold Clement of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince 1878 births 1916 deaths Hussars Austro-Hungarian Army officers Princes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry Murder–suicides in Europe Acid attack victims Hungarian Roman Catholics People murdered in 1916 People murdered in Austria Deaths by firearm in Austria