Archduke Leopold Ferdinand, Prince of Tuscany

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royal name=Archduke Leopold, Prince of Tuscany
dipstyle=His Imperial and Royal Highness
offstyle=Your Imperial and Royal Highness
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Archduke Leopold Ferdinand Salvator, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Prince of Tuscany (2 December 1868-4 July 1935) was the eldest son of Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Alice of Bourbon-Parma.

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. Leopold and Franz Ferdinand quarreled and Leopold left the trip at Sydney and returned to Austria. [Nicholas Horthy, "Memoirs" ( London: Hutchinson, 1956), 70-71.] 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. ["Almanach de Gotha, 1902" (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1902), 10.] Leopold fell in love with a prostitute and suffered from alcoholism. After he had been treated in the Rhineland his parents offered him 100,000 florins on condition that he leave his mistress.

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. ["Wiener Zeitung" (December 29, 1902), page 1.] 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 was forbidden from entering Austrian lands and 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.

After World War I Wölfling's allowance from his family stopped. He returned to Austria and opened a delicatessen store in Vienna where he sold salami and olive oil. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,738247,00.html "Unser Anton"] , "Time Magazine" (December 9, 1929).]

In 1924 Wölfling published a biography in Czech, "Poslední Habsburkové: vzpomínky a úvahy" (Last of the Habsburgs: Memories and Thoughts). In 1930 an English edition appeared with the title "My Life Story: From Archduke to Grocer" published in London by Hutchinson & Co. An American edition appeared in 1931 published in New York by Dutton. A German language edition appeared in 1935 published in Austria by Selle-Eysler.

Wölfling married three times:

*Wilhelmine Abramovic (1877-1908)
*Maria Ritter (1877-1938)
*Clara Groger (1910-1941)

Wölfling died at Berlin. ["Ex-Archduke's Death In Poverty", "The Times" (July 5, 1935): 13.] He is buried there in the Cemetery am Halleschen Tor. [Royalty Travel Guide, [http://www.royaltyguide.nl/countries/germany/berlin/kirchhofhalleschentor.htm Berlin, Kirchhof vor dem Halleschen Tor] ]

Ancestry

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1= 1. Archduke Leopold Ferdinand, Prince of Tuscany
2= 2. Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany
3= 3. Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma
4= 4. Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
5= 5. 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 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. Princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise of the Two Sicilies
16= 16. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
17= 17. 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
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

References