Adolph Ribbing

Adolph Ludvig Ribbing, later called Adolph de Leuven (10 January 1765 in Stockholm – 1 April 1843 in Paris), was a Swedish count and politician. He participated in the regicide of Gustav III of Sweden in 1792. Life Early life Adolph Ribbing was the son of Count Fredrik Ribbing and Eva Helena Löwen. He 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. He received a military education in Berlin and Paris and became a member of the Life Guards. Assassination of Gustav III In 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 count Hans Henrik von Essen. The engagement was widely disapproved of within the court because of sympathy with the popular Augusta von Fersen, to whom von Essen had been a long term lover, and Ribbing challenged von Essen to a duel. 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. Ribbing was assigned to the garrison at Vaxholm Castle, which he regarded as an insult, and he therefore resigned from the army.