![Louise and Leopold, around 1900.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/luise-leopold-titel-300x225.jpg)
Escape to Switzerland
Siblings Louise and Leopold, members of the Habsburg nobility, fled to Switzerland – so they could be with the people they loved. Their actions ignited a scandal in Europe.
![Louise and Leopold gave up a life in the stately Salzburg residence in exchange for their freedom.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/salzburg-300x196.jpg)
![The Habsburg siblings crossed the border at Buchs. They hoped to live quiet, enjoyable lives in Switzerland.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bahnhof-buchs-e1630413257371-300x194.jpg)
![Louise and Leopold, the brother and sister with a penchant for impropriety. Photo taken around 1900.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/luise-und-leopold-e1630050726666-220x300.jpg)
No red carpet in Zurich
![The Grandhotel Bellevue in Zurich. The fugitives stayed here in December 1902.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/hotel-bellevue-300x176.jpg)
![Wilhelmine Adamovic.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Adamovic-1-211x300.jpg)
![Leopold asked the head of the House of Habsburg to release him from his duties as Archduke. He wished to live as a private citizen.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/leopold-214x300.jpg)
![Time and again, the Emperor had to deal with ‘renegade’ Habsburgers. This caused him a great deal of displeasure.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/franz-josef-214x300.jpg)
Louise and Leopold
In 1902, Crown Princess Louise and Archduke Leopold of Austria-Tuscany fled to Switzerland. The siblings sought to escape from their straitjacketed life in the bosom of the Habsburg family. They succeeded, but their lives became a scandal-plagued descent into a normal middle-class existence, and ultimately ended in poverty and loneliness.
Part 1: Escape to Switzerland
Part 2: The scandal becomes public knowledge
Part 3: The Archduke becomes a Swiss citizen
Part 4: Leopold and the women
Part 5: Regensdorf versus the Archduke
Read the detailed account of Louise and Leopold’s journey in the book of the same name, by Michael van Orsouw. It is published by Hier und Jetzt.