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{{Short description|Austrian archduke (1868–1935)}}
{{Expand German|Leopold Wölfling|date=November 2012}}
{{Expand German|topic=bio|Leopold Wölfling|date=November 2012}}
{{Infobox royalty
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Archduke Leopold Ferdinand
| name = Archduke Leopold Ferdinand
| image = Leopoldo Fernando de Austria-Toscana.jpg
| image = Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria.jpg
| full name =Leopold Ferdinand Salvator Marie Joseph Johann Baptist Zenobius Rupprecht Ludwig Karl Jacob Vivian
| full name = Leopold Ferdinand Salvator Marie Joseph Johann Baptist Zenobius Rupprecht Ludwig Karl Jacob Vivian
| spouse =Wilhelmine Adamovicz<br>Maria Ritter<br>Klara Pawlowski
| spouse = Wilhelmine Adamovicz<br/>Maria Ritter<br/>Klara Pawlowski
| royal house =[[House of Habsburg-Lorraine]]
| house = [[House of Habsburg-Lorraine|Habsburg-Lorraine]]
| father =[[Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany]]
| father = [[Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany]]
| mother =[[Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma (1849–1935)|Alice of Bourbon-Parma]]
| mother = [[Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma (1849–1935)|Alice of Bourbon-Parma]]
| birth_date ={{Birth date|1868|12|2|df=y}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1868|12|2|df=y}}
| birth_place =[[Salzburg]]
| birth_place = [[Salzburg]], [[Duchy of Salzburg]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date ={{Death date and age|1935|7|4|1868|12|2|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1935|7|4|1868|12|2|df=y}}
| death_place =[[Berlin]]
| death_place = [[Berlin]], [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]
|}}
}}


'''Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria''' (2 December 1868 &ndash; 4 July 1935) was the eldest son of [[Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany]], and [[Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma (1849–1935)|Alice of Bourbon-Parma]].
'''Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria''' (2 December 1868 &ndash; 4 July 1935) was the eldest son of [[Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany]], and [[Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma (1849–1935)|Alice of Bourbon-Parma]].


==Early life==
==Early life==
[[File:Georg Decker Erzherzog Leopold Ferdinand c1886.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Leopold Ferdinand as a child, by [[Georg Decker]]]]
In 1892 and 1893 Leopold accompanied [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]] on a sea voyage through the [[Suez Canal]] and on to [[India]] and [[Australia]]. The relationship between the two Archdukes was extremely bad and their permanent attempts to outdo and humiliate the other one led the ''Kaiser'' Franz Joseph to order Leopold Ferdinand to return to Austria immediately. He left the ship in [[Sydney]] and went back to Europe.<ref>Nicholas Horthy, ''Memoirs'' (London: Hutchinson, 1956), 70-71.</ref> He was dismissed from the [[Austro-Hungarian Navy]] and entered an infantry regiment at [[Brno]]. Eventually he was appointed colonel of the 81st Regiment FZM Baron von Waldstätten.<ref>''Almanach de Gotha, 1902'' (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1902), 10.</ref>
In 1892 and 1893 Leopold accompanied [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]] on a sea voyage through the [[Suez Canal]] and on to [[India]] and [[Australia]]. The relationship between the two archdukes was extremely bad and their permanent attempts to outdo and humiliate the other one led the Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph]] to order Leopold Ferdinand to return to Austria immediately. He left the ship in [[Sydney]] and went back to Europe.<ref>Nicholas Horthy, ''Memoirs'' (London: Hutchinson, 1956), 70-71.</ref> He was dismissed from the [[Austro-Hungarian Navy]] and entered an infantry regiment at [[Brno]]. Eventually he was appointed colonel of the 81st Regiment FZM Baron von Waldstätten.<ref>''Almanach de Gotha, 1902'' (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1902), 10.</ref>


Leopold fell in love with a [[prostitute]], Wilhelmine Adamovicz, whom he met for the first time in Augarten - a park in Vienna (some other sources claim their first meeting took place in [[Olmütz]]), having begotten an illegitimate child with another woman only little time before. His parents offered him 100,000 florins on condition that he leave his mistress. He refused to do so and instead decided the renounce the crown in order to be able to marry her.
Leopold fell in love with a [[prostitute]], Wilhelmine Adamovicz, whom he met for the first time in [[Augarten]] - a park in Vienna (some other sources claim their first meeting took place in [[Olmütz]]), having begotten an illegitimate child with another woman only little time before. His parents offered him 100,000 [[Austro-Hungarian gulden|florins]] on condition that he leave his mistress. He refused to do so and instead decided the renounce the crown in order to be able to marry her.


==Renunciation of title==
==Renunciation of title==
On 29 December 1902 it was announced that the Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] had agreed to a request by Leopold to renounce his rank as an archduke.<ref>''Wiener Zeitung'' ( 29 December 1902), page 1.</ref> On 3 April 1903 the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of the Imperial and Royal House and the Exterior notified him that the emperor complied Leopold's wish to renounce his title and to adopt instead the name Leopold Wölfling.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 45">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;45. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.</ref> His name was removed from the roll of the [[Order of the Golden Fleece]] and from the army list. He took the name '''Leopold Wölfling''' after a peak in the [[Ore Mountains]]. He had used this pseudonym already in the 1890s when he had travelled incognito through Germany.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 45"/> On the day of his departure from Austria he was notified that he was forbidden from returning to Austrian lands. He became a Swiss citizen. He was given a gift of 200,000 florins as well as a further 30,000 florins as income from his parents.
On 29 December 1902 it was announced that Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] had agreed to a request by Leopold to renounce his rank as an archduke.<ref>''Wiener Zeitung'' (29 December 1902), page 1.</ref> On 3 April 1903 the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of the Imperial and Royal House and the Exterior notified him that the Emperor complied with Leopold's wish to renounce his title and to adopt instead the name Leopold Wölfling.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 45">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;45. {{ISBN|3-7759-0205-8}}.</ref> His name was removed from the roll of the [[Order of the Golden Fleece]] and from the army list. He took the name '''Leopold Wölfling''' after a peak in the [[Ore Mountains]]. He had used this pseudonym already in the 1890s when he had travelled incognito through [[German Empire|Germany]].<ref name="Nicolas 1979 45"/> On the day of his departure from Austria he was notified that he was forbidden from returning to Austrian lands. He became a Swiss citizen. He was given a gift of 200,000 florins as well as a further 30,000 florins as income from his parents.


==Life as Leopold Wölfling==
==Life as Leopold Wölfling==
After leaving Austria he fulfilled his earlier imperially denied wish and studied natural sciences and especially botanics at the [[Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich]], the [[Frederick William University of Berlin|Frederick William's University of Berlin]] and the [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich|Louis Maximilian's University of Munich]].<ref name="Nicolas 1979 46seq">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;46seq. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.</ref> In summer 1915 he applied as a volunteer for the [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]], but was rejected on the grounds of his Swiss citizenship.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 48"/>
After leaving Austria he fulfilled his earlier imperially denied wish and studied natural sciences and especially botanics at the [[Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich]], the [[Frederick William University of Berlin]] and the [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]].<ref name="Nicolas 1979 46seq">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;46seq. {{ISBN|3-7759-0205-8}}.</ref> In summer 1915 he applied as a volunteer for the [[Imperial German Army]], but was rejected on the grounds of his Swiss citizenship.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 48"/>


After [[World War I]] Wölfling's allowance from his meanwhile expropriated family stopped. In 1921 he returned to Austria, desperately searching for a livelihood.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 48">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;48. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.</ref> Fluent in [[German language|German]], [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]; he worked for some time as a foreign language correspondence clerk.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 48"/> After more jobs he later opened a delicatessen store in [[Vienna]] where he sold salami and olive oil.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,738247,00.html "Unser Anton"], ''Time Magazine'' ( 9 December 1929).</ref> He also tried his hand as a tourist guide in the [[Hofburg Palace]] in Vienna and was very well received by his audiences. Unfortunately, the interest his person awoke in Austrian capital proved to be too much for the ex-Archduke and he fled the city again.
After [[World War I]] Wölfling's allowance from his meanwhile expropriated family stopped. In 1921 he returned to Austria, desperately searching for a livelihood.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 48">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;48. {{ISBN|3-7759-0205-8}}.</ref> Fluent in [[German language|German]], [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]; he worked for some time as a foreign language correspondence clerk.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 48"/> After more jobs he later opened a delicatessen store in [[Vienna]] where he sold salami and olive oil.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090814235247/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,738247,00.html "Unser Anton"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. (9 December 1929).</ref> He also tried his hand as a tourist guide in the [[Hofburg Palace]] in Vienna and was very well received by his audiences. The interest his person awoke in the Austrian capital proved to be too much for the ex-archduke and he fled the city again.


[[File:Imperial Monogram of Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria.svg|thumb|100px|Monogramme]] A telegramme invited him to come to Berlin, Germany, to comment the premiere of the German silent film [[Das Schicksal derer von Habsburg]] (i.e. The fate of the Habsburgs), unable to pay the fare the film company advanced him the money.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 49">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;49. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.</ref> So on 16 November 1928 Wölfling provided a live commentary to the film in the Primus-Palast cinema on Potsdamer Straße in [[Tiergarten (Berlin)|Tiergarten]], Berlin, afterwards touring with the film through - among others - Karlsruhe, Nuremberg, Düsseldorf, Trier, Cologne and Montreux.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 49"/>
[[File:Imperial Monogram of Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria.svg|thumb|100px|Monogram of Leopold Ferdinand of Austria]]
A telegram invited him to come to Berlin, Germany, to comment on the premiere of the German silent film ''[[Das Schicksal derer von Habsburg]]'' (English: ''The Fate of the House of Habsburg''), unable to pay the fare the film company advanced him the money.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 49">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;49. {{ISBN|3-7759-0205-8}}.</ref> So on 16 November 1928 Wölfling provided a live commentary to the film in the Primus-Palast cinema on Potsdamer Straße in [[Tiergarten (Berlin)|Tiergarten]], Berlin, afterwards touring with the film through - among others - [[Karlsruhe]], [[Nuremberg]], [[Düsseldorf]], [[Trier]], [[Cologne]] and [[Montreux]].<ref name="Nicolas 1979 49"/>


[[File:Berlin, Kreuzberg, Mehringdamm 21, Friedhof III Jerusalems- und Neue Kirche, Grab Leopold Woelfling.jpg|thumb|Grave of Leopold Wölfling]] After that he lived in Berlin. Here he worked few menial jobs: He acted in a cabaret and wrote memoirs. In late 1932 he wrote a series of articles on his life at the Hofburg, published in the [[Berliner Morgenpost]]. However, for his start article he chose a subject of highest topicality in then Germany. In his first article, appearing on 2 October under the headline ''Es gibt keine Rassen-Reinheit. Mitteleuropa der große Schmelztiegel'' (i.e. There is no racial purity. Central Europe the great melting pot), he confronted the spreading racism and the garbled ideas on racial purity.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 49"/> With such daring theses in the Nazi poisoned public atmosphere before their takeover Wölfling had reduced his opportunities to publish under their reign.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 51">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;51. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.</ref>
[[File:Berlin, Kreuzberg, Mehringdamm 21, Friedhof III Jerusalems- und Neue Kirche, Grab Leopold Woelfling.jpg|thumb|Grave of Leopold Wölfling]]
After that he lived in [[Berlin]]. Here he worked few menial jobs: He acted in a cabaret and wrote his memoirs. In late 1932 he wrote a series of articles on his life at the Hofburg, published in the ''[[Berliner Morgenpost]]''. However, for his first article he chose a subject of highest topicality in then Germany. It appeared on 2 October under the headline "''Es gibt keine Rassen-Reinheit. Mitteleuropa der große Schmelztiegel''" (English: There is no racial purity. Central Europe the great melting pot), he confronted the spreading racism and the garbled ideas on racial purity.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 49"/> With such daring theses in the Nazi poisoned public atmosphere before their takeover Wölfling had reduced his opportunities to publish under their reign.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 51">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;51. {{ISBN|3-7759-0205-8}}.</ref>


His third marriage in [[Niederschöneweide]] with the Berlin-born Klara Hedwig Pawlowski (1902–1978) was announced in the Berliner Morgenpost on 11 April 1933.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 50">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;50. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.</ref> His wife tried to defray their livelihood also selling his silverware to a jeweller, who, seeing the monogramme, however, informed the police for suspect of theft, only to figure out that Wölfling had consented.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 51"/>
His third marriage in [[Niederschöneweide]] with the Berlin-born Klara Hedwig Pawlowski (1902–1978) was announced in the ''Berliner Morgenpost'' on 11 April 1933.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 50">Ilse Nicolas, ''Kreuzberger Impressionen'' (<sup>1</sup>1969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, <sup>2</sup>1979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p.&nbsp;50. {{ISBN|3-7759-0205-8}}.</ref> His wife tried to defray their livelihood also selling his silverware to a jeweller, who, seeing the monogram, however, informed the police for suspect of theft, only to figure out that Wölfling had consented.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 51"/>


Wölfling died impoverished on July, 4th 1935 in his third-floor flat in the rear wing of Belle-Alliance-Straße 53 (now renamed and renumbered [[Mehringdamm]] 119) in [[Berlin]].<ref name="Nicolas 1979 51"/><ref>"Ex-Archduke's Death In Poverty", ''The Times'' ( 5 July 1935): 13.</ref> His and his widow's graves are preserved in the [[Protestant]] ''Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde'' (Cemetery No. III of the congregations of [[Jerusalem's Church]] and [[Neue Kirche, Berlin|New Church]]) in [[Kreuzberg|Berlin-Kreuzberg]], south of [[Hallesches Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)|Hallesches Tor]].<ref>Royalty Travel Guide, [http://www.royaltyguide.nl/countries/germany/berlin/kirchhofhalleschentor.htm Berlin, Kirchhof vor dem Halleschen Tor]</ref> His last book appeared posthumously.
Wölfling died impoverished on 4 July 1935 in his third-floor flat in the rear wing of Belle-Alliance-Straße 53 (now renamed and renumbered [[Mehringdamm]] 119) in Berlin.<ref name="Nicolas 1979 51"/><ref>"Ex-Archduke's Death In Poverty", ''[[The Times]]'' (5 July 1935): 13.</ref> His and his widow's graves are preserved in the [[Protestant]] ''Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde'' (Cemetery No. III of the congregations of [[Jerusalem's Church]] and [[Neue Kirche, Berlin|New Church]]) in [[Kreuzberg|Berlin-Kreuzberg]], south of [[Hallesches Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)|Hallesches Tor]].{{CN|date=November 2024}} His last book appeared posthumously.


==Marriages==
==Marriages==
Wölfling married three times:
Wölfling married three times:


*Wilhelmine Adamovicz ([[Ludenburg]], 1 May 1877 - [[Geneva]], 17 May 1908 / 1910) (married: 27 January / 25 July 1903 in [[Veyrier]], divorced in 1907). Her memoirs: Wilhelmine Wölfling-Adamović, ''Meine Memoiren'', Josef Schall (ed.), Berlin: Hermann Walther Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1908. No issue.
*Wilhelmine Adamovicz ([[Lundenburg]], 1 May 1877 - [[Geneva]], 17 May 1908 / 1910) (married: 27 January / 25 July 1903 in [[Veyrier]], divorced in 1907). Her memoirs: Wilhelmine Wölfling-Adamović, ''Meine Memoiren'', Josef Schall (ed.), Berlin: Hermann Walther Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1908. No issue.
*Maria Magdalena Ritter (Vienna 4 Mar 1876 / 1877 - 1924<ref>S. Lavallee points out that her precise date of death is 21 July 1938 in [[Berlin]] despite in Wölfling's autobiography "From Archduke to Grocer" he actually mentions Maria Magdalena Ritter's death in some type of institution during the mid-1920s; him being a bit of an eccentric, ''perhaps'' he was wrong.)</ref>) (married: 26 October 1907 in [[Zürich]], left her in 1916 and later divorced her.). No issue.
*Maria Magdalena Ritter (Vienna 4 Mar 1876 / 1877 - 1924<ref>The Tuscany article of Paul Theroff's "Online Gotha" had previously indicated that she died on 21 July 1938 in [[Berlin]]. However, according to Wölfling's autobiography "From Archduke to Grocer," Maria Magdalena Ritter died in some type of institution during the mid-1920s.</ref>) (married: 26 October 1907 in [[Zürich]], left her in 1916 and later divorced her.). No issue.
*C/Klara Hedwig Pawlowski, née Groeger ([[Güldenboden]] ([[Bogaczewo]]), 6 October 1894 - [[Berlingen]], 24 July 1978) (married: 3 July / 4 December 1933 in Berlin.). No issue.
*C/Klara Hedwig Pawlowski, née Groeger (Güldenboden ([[Bogaczewo, Elbląg County|Bogaczewo]]), 6 October 1894 - [[Berlingen, Germany|Berlingen]], 24 July 1978) (married: 3 July / 4 December 1933 in Berlin.). No issue.


==Works==
==Works==
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* "Frühling im Prater – Tante und Neffe – Kaiserliche Schaustellung" (i.e. Spring in the [[Prater]] – aunt and nephew – imperial ostentation), in: ''Berliner Morgenpost'', 13 October 1932.
* "Frühling im Prater – Tante und Neffe – Kaiserliche Schaustellung" (i.e. Spring in the [[Prater]] – aunt and nephew – imperial ostentation), in: ''Berliner Morgenpost'', 13 October 1932.
* "Begegnung in der Nacht" (i.e. Encounter in the night; with Francis Joseph), in: ''Berliner Morgenpost'', 8 December 1932.
* "Begegnung in der Nacht" (i.e. Encounter in the night; with Francis Joseph), in: ''Berliner Morgenpost'', 8 December 1932.
* ''Als ich Erzherzog war. Meine Erinnerungen'' (i.e. When I was an archduke. My memoirs), Berlin: Selle & Eysler, 1935, reedited: Lorenz Mikoletzky (ed.), Wien: Ueberreuter, 1988, ISBN 3-8000-3272-4.
* ''Als ich Erzherzog war. Meine Erinnerungen'' (i.e. When I was an archduke. My memoirs), Berlin: Selle & Eysler, 1935, reedited: Lorenz Mikoletzky (ed.), Wien: Ueberreuter, 1988, {{ISBN|3-8000-3272-4}}.
** English translation: ''My Life Story: From Archduke to Grocer'', London: Hutchinson, 1930. An American edition published in 1931 in New York by Dutton, reprinted in 2007 by [[Kessinger Publishing]], ISBN 1-4325-9363-3.
** English translation: ''My Life Story: From Archduke to Grocer'', London: Hutchinson, 1930. An American edition published in 1931 in New York by Dutton, reprinted in 2007 by [[Kessinger Publishing]], {{ISBN|1-4325-9363-3}}.
** French translation: ''Souvenirs de la cour de Vienne'', G. Welter (trl.), Paris: Payot, 1937.
** French translation: ''Souvenirs de la cour de Vienne'', G. Welter (trl.), Paris: Payot, 1937.

==Titles and styles==
*2 December 1868 &nbsp;– 29 December 1902: ''[[His Imperial and Royal Highness]]'' Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Prince of Tuscany
*29 December 1902 &nbsp;– 4 July 1935: Leopold Wölfling

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel top|width=100%}}
{{ahnentafel-compact5
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|border=1
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|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Archduke Leopold Ferdinand, Prince of Tuscany'''
|2= 2. [[Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany]]
|3= 3. [[Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma (1849–1935)|Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma]]
|4= 4. [[Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany]]
|5= 5. [[Marie Antoinette of Tuscany|Princess Marie Antoinette of the Two Sicilies]]
|6= 6. [[Charles III, Duke of Parma]]
|7= 7. [[Princess Louise Marie Thérèse of France]]
|8= 8. [[Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany]]
|9= 9. [[Princess Luisa of Naples and Sicily|Princess Luisa of the Two Sicilies]]
|10= 10. [[Francis I of the Two Sicilies]]
|11= 11. [[Maria Isabella of Spain]]
|12= 12. [[Charles II, Duke of Parma]]
|13= 13. [[Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy]]
|14= 14. [[Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry]]
|15= 15. [[Caroline Ferdinande Louise, duchesse de Berry|Princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise of the Two Sicilies]]
|16= 16. [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor]]
|17= 17. [[Maria Louisa of Spain (1745-1792)|Maria Louisa of Spain]]
|18= 18. [[Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies]]
|19= 19. [[Marie Caroline of Austria]]
|20= 20. [[Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies]] (= 18)
|21= 21. [[Marie Caroline of Austria]] (= 19)
|22= 22. [[Charles IV of Spain]]
|23= 23. [[Maria Luisa of Parma]]
|24= 24. [[Louis of Etruria]]
|25= 25. [[Maria Louisa of Spain (1782-1824)|Maria Louisa of Spain]]
|26= 26. [[Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia]]
|27= 27. [[Maria Teresa of Austria-Este]]
|28= 28. [[Charles X of France]]
|29= 29. [[Princess Marie Thérèse of Savoy]]
|30= 30. [[Francis I of the Two Sicilies]] (= 10)
|31= 31. [[Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria]]
}}</center>
{{ahnentafel bottom}}


==References==
==References==
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==External links==
==External links==
* [http://kreuzberged.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/archduke-in-the-backhouse/ Short biography]
* [http://kreuzberged.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/archduke-in-the-backhouse/ Short biography]
* [http://www.fidus-projekt.ch/wp/tag/wolfling/ Articles about Wölfling's life] in [[Ascona]], [[Fidus]]-Projekt (in German)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120425162143/http://www.fidus-projekt.ch/wp/tag/wolfling Articles about Wölfling's life] in [[Ascona]], [[Fidus]]-Projekt (in German)
* {{PM20|FID=pe/040596}}


{{Austrian archdukes}}
{{Austrian archdukes}}
{{tuscan princes}}
{{Tuscan princes}}

{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Leopold Ferdinand, Prince Of Tuscany, Archduke
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Austrian archduke
| DATE OF BIRTH = 2 December 1868
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Salzburg]]
| DATE OF DEATH = 4 July 1935
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Berlin]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold Ferdinand, Prince Of Tuscany, Archduke}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold Ferdinand, Prince Of Tuscany, Archduke}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1868 births]]
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[[Category:House of Habsburg-Lorraine]]
[[Category:House of Habsburg-Lorraine]]
[[Category:Austrian princes]]
[[Category:Austrian princes]]
[[Category:Heirs apparent who never acceded]]
[[Category:People from Salzburg]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria]]
[[Category:Sons of dukes]]
[[Category:People from Austria-Hungary]]
[[Category:People from the Duchy of Salzburg]]

Latest revision as of 09:51, 30 November 2024

Archduke Leopold Ferdinand
Born(1868-12-02)2 December 1868
Salzburg, Duchy of Salzburg, Austria-Hungary
Died4 July 1935(1935-07-04) (aged 66)
Berlin, Germany
SpouseWilhelmine Adamovicz
Maria Ritter
Klara Pawlowski
Names
Leopold Ferdinand Salvator Marie Joseph Johann Baptist Zenobius Rupprecht Ludwig Karl Jacob Vivian
HouseHabsburg-Lorraine
FatherFerdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany
MotherAlice of Bourbon-Parma

Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria (2 December 1868 – 4 July 1935) was the eldest son of Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Alice of Bourbon-Parma.

Early life

[edit]
Leopold Ferdinand as a child, by Georg Decker

In 1892 and 1893 Leopold accompanied Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on a sea voyage through the Suez Canal and on to India and Australia. The relationship between the two archdukes was extremely bad and their permanent attempts to outdo and humiliate the other one led the Emperor Franz Joseph to order Leopold Ferdinand to return to Austria immediately. He left the ship in Sydney and went back to Europe.[1] He was dismissed from the Austro-Hungarian Navy and entered an infantry regiment at Brno. Eventually he was appointed colonel of the 81st Regiment FZM Baron von Waldstätten.[2]

Leopold fell in love with a prostitute, Wilhelmine Adamovicz, whom he met for the first time in Augarten - a park in Vienna (some other sources claim their first meeting took place in Olmütz), having begotten an illegitimate child with another woman only little time before. His parents offered him 100,000 florins on condition that he leave his mistress. He refused to do so and instead decided the renounce the crown in order to be able to marry her.

Renunciation of title

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On 29 December 1902 it was announced that Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria had agreed to a request by Leopold to renounce his rank as an archduke.[3] On 3 April 1903 the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of the Imperial and Royal House and the Exterior notified him that the Emperor complied with Leopold's wish to renounce his title and to adopt instead the name Leopold Wölfling.[4] His name was removed from the roll of the Order of the Golden Fleece and from the army list. He took the name Leopold Wölfling after a peak in the Ore Mountains. He had used this pseudonym already in the 1890s when he had travelled incognito through Germany.[4] On the day of his departure from Austria he was notified that he was forbidden from returning to Austrian lands. He became a Swiss citizen. He was given a gift of 200,000 florins as well as a further 30,000 florins as income from his parents.

Life as Leopold Wölfling

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After leaving Austria he fulfilled his earlier imperially denied wish and studied natural sciences and especially botanics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, the Frederick William University of Berlin and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.[5] In summer 1915 he applied as a volunteer for the Imperial German Army, but was rejected on the grounds of his Swiss citizenship.[6]

After World War I Wölfling's allowance from his meanwhile expropriated family stopped. In 1921 he returned to Austria, desperately searching for a livelihood.[6] Fluent in German, English, French, Italian, Hungarian, Spanish, and Portuguese; he worked for some time as a foreign language correspondence clerk.[6] After more jobs he later opened a delicatessen store in Vienna where he sold salami and olive oil.[7] He also tried his hand as a tourist guide in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna and was very well received by his audiences. The interest his person awoke in the Austrian capital proved to be too much for the ex-archduke and he fled the city again.

Monogram of Leopold Ferdinand of Austria

A telegram invited him to come to Berlin, Germany, to comment on the premiere of the German silent film Das Schicksal derer von Habsburg (English: The Fate of the House of Habsburg), unable to pay the fare the film company advanced him the money.[8] So on 16 November 1928 Wölfling provided a live commentary to the film in the Primus-Palast cinema on Potsdamer Straße in Tiergarten, Berlin, afterwards touring with the film through - among others - Karlsruhe, Nuremberg, Düsseldorf, Trier, Cologne and Montreux.[8]

Grave of Leopold Wölfling

After that he lived in Berlin. Here he worked few menial jobs: He acted in a cabaret and wrote his memoirs. In late 1932 he wrote a series of articles on his life at the Hofburg, published in the Berliner Morgenpost. However, for his first article he chose a subject of highest topicality in then Germany. It appeared on 2 October under the headline "Es gibt keine Rassen-Reinheit. Mitteleuropa der große Schmelztiegel" (English: There is no racial purity. Central Europe the great melting pot), he confronted the spreading racism and the garbled ideas on racial purity.[8] With such daring theses in the Nazi poisoned public atmosphere before their takeover Wölfling had reduced his opportunities to publish under their reign.[9]

His third marriage in Niederschöneweide with the Berlin-born Klara Hedwig Pawlowski (1902–1978) was announced in the Berliner Morgenpost on 11 April 1933.[10] His wife tried to defray their livelihood also selling his silverware to a jeweller, who, seeing the monogram, however, informed the police for suspect of theft, only to figure out that Wölfling had consented.[9]

Wölfling died impoverished on 4 July 1935 in his third-floor flat in the rear wing of Belle-Alliance-Straße 53 (now renamed and renumbered Mehringdamm 119) in Berlin.[9][11] His and his widow's graves are preserved in the Protestant Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde (Cemetery No. III of the congregations of Jerusalem's Church and New Church) in Berlin-Kreuzberg, south of Hallesches Tor.[citation needed] His last book appeared posthumously.

Marriages

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Wölfling married three times:

  • Wilhelmine Adamovicz (Lundenburg, 1 May 1877 - Geneva, 17 May 1908 / 1910) (married: 27 January / 25 July 1903 in Veyrier, divorced in 1907). Her memoirs: Wilhelmine Wölfling-Adamović, Meine Memoiren, Josef Schall (ed.), Berlin: Hermann Walther Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1908. No issue.
  • Maria Magdalena Ritter (Vienna 4 Mar 1876 / 1877 - 1924[12]) (married: 26 October 1907 in Zürich, left her in 1916 and later divorced her.). No issue.
  • C/Klara Hedwig Pawlowski, née Groeger (Güldenboden (Bogaczewo), 6 October 1894 - Berlingen, 24 July 1978) (married: 3 July / 4 December 1933 in Berlin.). No issue.

Works

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  • Habsburger unter sich: Freimütige Aufzeichnungen eines ehemaligen Erzherzogs, Berlin-Wilmensdorf: Goldschmidt-Gabrielli, 1921.
    • Czech translation: Habsburkové ve vlastním zrcadle: životní vzpomínky, Prague: Šolc a Šimáček, 1921 and Poslední Habsburkové: vzpomínky a úvahy, Prague, Fr. Borový, 1924.
    • No known English translation.
  • "Es gibt keine Rassen-Reinheit. Mitteleuropa der große Schmelztiegel" (i.e. There is no racial purity. Central Europe the great melting pot), in: Berliner Morgenpost, 2 October 1932.
  • "Habsburger Kaiserinnen, die ich kannte" (i.e. Habsburg empresses, whom I knew), in: Berliner Morgenpost, 9 October 1932.
  • "Bei der Kaiserin Elisabeth auf Korfu" (i.e. With Empress Elizabeth on Corfu), in: Berliner Morgenpost, 10 October 1932.
  • "Das Heine-Denkmal" (i.e. The Heine monument; by Louis Hasselriis now in the Jardin d'acclimatation du Mourillon, Toulon), in: Berliner Morgenpost, 11 October 1932.
  • "Kaiser Franz Joseph als Ehemann" (i.e. Emperor Francis Joseph as a husband), in: Berliner Morgenpost, 12 October 1932.
  • "Frühling im Prater – Tante und Neffe – Kaiserliche Schaustellung" (i.e. Spring in the Prater – aunt and nephew – imperial ostentation), in: Berliner Morgenpost, 13 October 1932.
  • "Begegnung in der Nacht" (i.e. Encounter in the night; with Francis Joseph), in: Berliner Morgenpost, 8 December 1932.
  • Als ich Erzherzog war. Meine Erinnerungen (i.e. When I was an archduke. My memoirs), Berlin: Selle & Eysler, 1935, reedited: Lorenz Mikoletzky (ed.), Wien: Ueberreuter, 1988, ISBN 3-8000-3272-4.
    • English translation: My Life Story: From Archduke to Grocer, London: Hutchinson, 1930. An American edition published in 1931 in New York by Dutton, reprinted in 2007 by Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-4325-9363-3.
    • French translation: Souvenirs de la cour de Vienne, G. Welter (trl.), Paris: Payot, 1937.

References

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  1. ^ Nicholas Horthy, Memoirs (London: Hutchinson, 1956), 70-71.
  2. ^ Almanach de Gotha, 1902 (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1902), 10.
  3. ^ Wiener Zeitung (29 December 1902), page 1.
  4. ^ a b Ilse Nicolas, Kreuzberger Impressionen (11969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, 21979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p. 45. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.
  5. ^ Ilse Nicolas, Kreuzberger Impressionen (11969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, 21979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p. 46seq. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.
  6. ^ a b c Ilse Nicolas, Kreuzberger Impressionen (11969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, 21979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p. 48. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.
  7. ^ "Unser Anton". Time. (9 December 1929).
  8. ^ a b c Ilse Nicolas, Kreuzberger Impressionen (11969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, 21979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p. 49. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.
  9. ^ a b c Ilse Nicolas, Kreuzberger Impressionen (11969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, 21979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p. 51. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.
  10. ^ Ilse Nicolas, Kreuzberger Impressionen (11969), Berlin: Haude & Spener, 21979, (=Berlinische Reminiszenzen; vol. 26), p. 50. ISBN 3-7759-0205-8.
  11. ^ "Ex-Archduke's Death In Poverty", The Times (5 July 1935): 13.
  12. ^ The Tuscany article of Paul Theroff's "Online Gotha" had previously indicated that she died on 21 July 1938 in Berlin. However, according to Wölfling's autobiography "From Archduke to Grocer," Maria Magdalena Ritter died in some type of institution during the mid-1920s.
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