![From Austrian Archduke to ordinary Swiss citizen: Leopold was in a hurry to become ‘normal’.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/schweizer-titel-300x225.jpg)
The Archduke becomes a Swiss citizen
After fleeing to Switzerland, Leopold settled there permanently and became a citizen of the city of Zug. His wife, on the other hand, preferred to spend her time at Monte Verità, a Mecca for alternative lifestylers. It wasn’t long before the storm clouds started gathering…
![Was Friedrich August III of Saxony the father?](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/luise-und-der-konig-208x300.jpg)
![Or was it André Giron?](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/luise-und-andre-karte-223x300.jpg)
![Alice of Bourbon, Louise’s mother, rushed to Lindau to help her daughter.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/luise-und-mutter-218x300.jpg)
![Leopold and Wilhelmine enjoyed life at the Hotel ‘Continental’ in Montreux.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/hotel-montreux-300x208.jpg)
![The newlywed Wölflings moved into ‘Villa Seeburg’ in Zug.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/villa-wolfling-300x157.jpg)
Captivated by the alternative lifestyle on Monte Verità
![Alternative lifestylers dancing at Monte Verità, around 1910.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/monte-verita-300x175.jpg)
![Wilhelmine and Leopold had a parting of the ways at Monte Verità.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/postkarte-scheidung-300x217.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.