Adolph Ludvig Ribbing,later calledAdolph de Leuven(10 January 1765 inStockholm– 1 April 1843 inParis), was a Swedishcountand politician. He participated in theregicideofGustav III of Swedenin 1792.
Adolph Ribbing | |
|---|---|
| Count | |
 Adolph Ludvig Ribbing | |
| Born | 10 January 1765 Stockholm,Sweden |
| Died | 1 April 1843(aged 78) Paris,France |
| Spouse(s) | Adèle Billard d'Aubigny |
| Issue | Adolphe de Leuven |
| Father | Fredrik Ribbing |
| Mother | Eva Helena Löwen |
| Occupation | Politician |
Life
editEarly life
editAdolph Ribbing was the son of Count Fredrik Ribbing andEva Helena Löwen.He spent his childhood at the Swedish royal court, as his mother was a popular socialite and the personal friend of bothLouisa Ulrika of PrussiaandGustav III of Sweden.He received a military education inBerlinandParisand became a member of theLife Guards.
Assassination of Gustav III
editIn the 1780s, Ribbing came in conflict with the monarch,Gustav III.His animosity was nurtured when Charlotta Eleonora De Geer, with whom he was in love, was matched by the king with countHans Henrik von Essen.The engagement was widely disapproved of within the court because of sympathy with the popularAugusta von Fersen,to whom von Essen had been a long term lover, and Ribbing challenged von Essen to aduel.[1]Ribbing injured von Essen in the duel, which took place in 1788. The duel caused a scandal and was regarded as a crime against the king.[1]Ribbing was assigned to the garrison atVaxholm Castle,which he regarded as an insult, and he therefore resigned from the army.
Ribbing took part in the1789 sessionof theRiksdag(the Swedish parliament), acting as one of the leaders of the opposition to the king's increasinglyautocraticpolicies, such as theUnion and Security Act.
In early 1792 he became involved in the plot to assassinate King Gustav, serving as the liaison between the conspiracy's leaderCarl Fredrik Pechlinand the two men who had volunteered to carry out the murder,Claes Fredrik HornandJacob Johan Anckarströmin 1792. When Anckarström, Horn and Ribbing met on the afternoon of 16 March to finalise their plans, they did so at the house of Ribbing's lover, Louisa Hierta. That evening, the three conspirators attended amasquerade ballat theRoyal Opera House,during which either Anckarström or Ribbing (who boasted of it later when in exile)[2]shot and wounded the king.[3]
Ribbing was arrested within a few days of the assassination and confessed to partaking in the conspiracy. Ribbing was sentenced to death in May 1792 and deprived of his rank as a noble, but the regentDuke Charles(later King Charles XIII) commuted the sentence to exile.
Exile
editIn August 1792 Ribbing was deported toDenmark,and thence made his way to France. Despite his enthusiasm for theRevolutionhe was unsettled by the burgeoningReign of Terrorand therefore left France, relocating first toSwitzerland,where he had an affair with the famous writerMadame de Staël,and then back to Denmark. By 1796 the situation in France had calmed down sufficiently for Ribbing to return to Paris. He adopted his mother'smaiden name,de Leuven,and lived a quiet, apolitical life for the next nineteen years, during which time he married Adèle Billard, daughter of the doctor Jean Pierre Billard.
As a known regicide, Adolph de Leuven (as he now called himself) did not feel safe during theWhite Terror of 1815,and he therefore left France again, this time forBrussels,where he found work as a journalist for the radical newspaperLe Vrai Libéral.His writings for this organ earned him the enmity of KingFrederick William III of Prussia,who in 1820 persuaded theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlandsto deport him. He returned to France, where persecution of radicals had eased since 1815, and continued to work in left-wing journalism, this time forLe Courrier Français.In 1830, aged 65, he took an active role in theJuly Revolutionwhich overthrew thereactionaryBourbon restorationregime and installed the liberalJuly Monarchy.He died in 1843.[3]
His son and namesake,Adolphe de Leuven,was a noted playwright and theatre director.
References
editSources
edit- Bohman, Nils; Dahl, Torsten, eds. (1942–1955).Svenska män och kvinnor: biografisk uppslagsbok(in Swedish). Stockholm: Bonnier.
- Grimberg, Carl (1922).Svenska folkets underbara öden. [7], Gustav III:s och Gustav IV Adolfs tid(in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt.
- Cecilia af Klercker (1903). Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok II 1783-1788. P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. Sid. 212