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, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the wealth of the

House of Koháry The House of Koháry ( hu, Koháry-ház) 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 Or ...

. His death in a

murder–suicide A murder-suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more persons either before or while killing themselves. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms: * Murder linked with suicide of a person with a homicidal idea ...

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 Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium. She was a member of the House of Wettin in the branch of Saxe-Coburg and ...

and Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, both of whom were Roman Catholic members of the

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (; german: Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) is a European royal house. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bu ...

. He shared his name with his maternal grandfather,

King Leopold II of Belgium * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

, 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 regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

Fatal affair

A Hussar captain in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

, Prince Leopold Clement met a Viennese girl named Camilla Rybicka at a charity bazaar 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. The two soon started a romantic relationship. Rybicka left the family home, and the two travelled around the Austro-Hungarian Empire before settling down in an apartment in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. 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, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

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 crown (german: Krone, hu, korona, it, Corona, pl, korona, sl, krona, sh, kruna, cz, koruna, sk, koruna, ro, coroană) was the official currency of Austria-Hungary from 1892 (when it replaced the florin as part of the adoption of the ...

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

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, 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, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

. 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 en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

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 in his face, before firing the sixth bullet through her 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 final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

Jena Jena () is a German city 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 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

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 located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

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, a murder–suicide involving

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria en, Rudolph Francis Charles Joseph , caption = Rudolf in 1887 , spouse = , issue = Elisabeth Marie, Princess Otto of Windisch-Graetz , house = Habsburg-Lorraine , father = Franz Joseph I of Austria , mother ...

, 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 noblewoman and the mistress of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Vetsera and the crown prince were found dead at his hunting lodge in Mayerling on 3 ...

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 num ...

: Grand Cross of the

Saxe-Ernestine House Order The Saxe-Ernestine House Order (german: link=yes, Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden)Hausorden
Herz ...

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

Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest 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 its European counterparts, the order may be conferred posthumously. Apart fr ...

, ''9 February 1907'' * : Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Golden Ruler The Order of the Golden Ruler or the Order of the Taejo was the highest Order of chivalry in the Korean Empire. It was established on 17 April 1900 by Gojong of Korea, four years after he established the Korean Empire. History In the summer of ...

, ''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 1916 murders in Austria People murdered in Austria Deaths by firearm in Austria