| Prince Leopold Clement | |||||
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| Born | (1878-07-19)19 July 1878 Szentantal,Hungary | ||||
| Died | 27 April 1916(1916-04-27) (aged 37) Vienna,Archduchy of Austria,Austria-Hungary | ||||
| Burial | |||||
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| House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry | ||||
| Father | Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
| Mother | Princess Louise of Belgium | ||||
Prince Leopold Clement Philipp August Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (19 July 1878 – 27 April 1916) was anAustro-Hungarian officer and theheir apparent to the wealth of theHouse of Koháry. His death in amurder–suicide shocked the royal courts of Austria and Germany.
Prince Leopold Clement was the elder child and only son born in the troubled marriage ofPrincess Louise of Belgium andPrince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, both of whom were Roman Catholic members of theHouse of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He shared his name with his maternal grandfather,King Leopold II of Belgium, 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.[1]
AHussar captain in theAustro-Hungarian Army, Prince Leopold Clement met a Viennese girl named Camilla Rybicka[note 1] at a charitybazaar in 1907.[1][2] 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 acommoner. The two soon started a romantic relationship. Rybicka left the family home, and the two travelled around theAustro-Hungarian Empire before settling down in an apartment inVienna.[3]
Rybicka, however, was not satisfied with being only the Prince's lover and demanded that he marry her.[1][3] InParis 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 millionAustro-Hungarian krones in the event of his death.[4] After Prince Leopold Clement was called to fight in theFirst World War, she insisted that he marry her before leaving.[3] Leopold Clement was aware that such amesalliance would have deprived him of the fortune he stood to inherit[1] because his father had no intention of permitting the union,[3] and that marrying Rybicka would have forced him to resign hisofficer's commission.[1]
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.[1] Instead, she fired five shots at him at close range and thensmashed a bottle ofsulfuric acid in his face,[1][5] before firing the sixth bullet through her own heart.[6] Neighbours testified that they heard him scream in agony.[5] 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.[5][6] Rybicka wascremated inJena,Germany in December 1915.[4] Having lost an eye and much of the flesh on his face, Prince Leopold Clement died after six months of suffering.[1] His remains were interred in the vault ofSt. Augustin inCoburg.[7]
Following the death of his only son, Prince Philipp bequeathed his fortune to his grandnephew,Prince Philipp Josias.[1] The deaths of Prince Leopold Clement and Camilla Rybicka shocked the royal courts of Austria and Germany. They were reminiscent of the 1889Mayerling incident, a murder–suicide involvingCrown Prince Rudolf of Austria, Prince Leopold Clement's maternal uncle, and Rudolf's teenage mistress,Baroness Mary Vetsera.[3]
Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of theSaxe-Ernestine House Order,1896[8]
Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Chrysanthemum,9 February 1907[9]
Korean Empire: Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Golden Ruler,27 February 1907[10]| Ancestors of Prince Leopold Clement of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
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The last bullet she had kept for herself. She lay, half naked, by the bed, shot through the heart.
