14 Facts About Adolph Ribbing

Adolph Ludvig Ribbing, later called Adolph de Leuven, was a Swedish count and politician.

Adolph Ribbing participated in the regicide of Gustav III of Sweden in 1792.

Adolph Ribbing was the son of Count Fredrik Ribbing and Eva Helena Lowen.

Adolph Ribbing spent his childhood at the Swedish royal court, as his mother was a popular socialite and the personal friend of both Louisa Ulrika of Prussia and Gustav III of Sweden.

Adolph Ribbing received a military education in Berlin and Paris and became a member of the Life Guards.

Adolph Ribbing's animosity was nurtured when Charlotta Eleonora De Geer, with whom he was in love, was matched by the king with count Hans Henrik von Essen.

Adolph Ribbing injured von Essen in the duel, which took place in 1788.

Adolph Ribbing was assigned to the garrison at Vaxholm Castle, which he regarded as an insult, and he therefore resigned from the army.

Adolph Ribbing took part in the 1789 session of the Riksdag, acting as one of the leaders of the opposition to the king's increasingly autocratic policies, such as the Union and Security Act.

That evening, the three conspirators attended a masquerade ball at the Royal Opera House, during which either Anckarstrom or Adolph Ribbing shot and wounded the king.

Adolph Ribbing was arrested within a few days of the assassination and confessed to partaking in the conspiracy.

Adolph Ribbing adopted his mother's maiden name, de Leuven, and lived a quiet, apolitical life for the next nineteen years, during which time he married Adele Billard, daughter of the doctor Jean Pierre Billard.

Adolph Ribbing returned to France, where persecution of radicals had eased since 1815, and continued to work in left-wing journalism, this time for Le Courrier Francais.

Adolph Ribbing's son and namesake, Adolphe de Leuven, was a noted playwright and theatre director.