Archduke Leopold of Austria

Archduke Leopold Maria of Austria, Prince of Tuscany (, 30 January 1897 – 14 March 1958) was the second son of Archduke Leopold Salvator, Prince of Tuscany and Archduchess Blanca. At the fall of Habsburg monarchy he remained in Austria and recognized the new republic in order to marry outside the circle of European royal and princely dynasties. Leopold emigrated to the United States where he became a naturalized American citizen under the name Leopold Lorraine. He died in 1958 in Connecticut.

Life Archduke Leopold of Austria was born in Agram (the historic Austrian-German name for what is now the city of Zagreb in Croatia), the fifth child and second son of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, Prince of Tuscany and Princess Blanca of Bourbon (daughter of Carlos, Duke of Madrid). He received the names Leopold Maria Alfons Blanka Karl Anton Beatrix Michael Joseph Peter Ignatz von Habsburg-Lothringen.

During World War I Archduke Leopold served as a lieutenant of artillery in the Austro-Hungarian Army with his eldest brother Archduke Rainier. His actions, on 25 May 1917, as an officer at the Battle of Medeazza, near Trieste in Italy, were favorably noted. At the age of 19, he was the last person appointed to the Order of the Golden Fleece by Emperor Karl. Archduke Leopold also took part in the first line of combat in the Battle of the Piave River.

After the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy and the establishment of the First Austrian Republic, he renounced his rights to the Austrian throne in order that he could remain in Austria. He was in love with Baroness Dagmar Nicolics-Podrinska (Zagreb 15 July 1898 – Lausanne 15 November 1967), a member of the minor Croatian nobility. His parents were initially against the marriage as Dagmar did not belong to a royal family. The wedding took place in Vienna on 12 April 1919. Theirs was a morganatic marriage. After turning himself in, he spent twelve days in The Tombs, a detention complex in Manhattan, before a neighbour posted his bail bond. He was eventually acquitted of the first charge, and had his conviction on the second count vacated.

After divorcing his wife in 1931, Leopold emigrated to the United States where he was known as "Mr. Leopold H(absburg) Lorraine". In 1932 he remarried, also morganatically, Alicia Gibson Coburn (New York 20 January 1898 – New York City 25 August 1960). Their marriage remained childless and ended in divorce.

For a time Leopold sought a career in Hollywood and had several minor roles, including John Ford's 1928 drama Four Sons. He moved to Willimantic, Connecticut where he settled into a small house with his second wife and spent the rest of his life as a factory worker. He became an American citizen in 1953. His ashes are in tomb 91 of the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.

Ancestry