Royal Deaths from Suicide

compiled by Susan Flantzer

Below are some suicide prevention resources.

In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988. Anyone in the United States can text or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to reach trained counselors who can help them cope with a mental health emergency. National Institute of Mental Health: Suicide Prevention is also a United States resource.

Other countries also have similar resources. Please check the resources below.

An interesting observation: Six of the twelve people listed below are descendants of Queen Victoria: Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Prince Joachim of Prussia; Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen; Prince Ludwig Rudolph of Hanover; Princess Margarita of Leiningen; and Prince Ernst Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Those six people and Adolf Friedrich VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz are descendants of King George III.

This does not purport to be a complete list. All images are from Wikipedia unless otherwise indicated.

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Prince Gaetan of the Two Sicilies, Count of Girgenti

  • Born: January 12, 1846 in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy
  • Parents: Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria
  • Married: Infanta Isabella of Spain in 1868
  • Died: November 26, 1871, aged 25, in Lucerne, Switzerland
  • Buried: Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain
  • Wikipedia: Prince Gaetan of the Two Sicilies, Count of Girgenti

Gaetan suffered from ill health, epilepsy, and depression. He had unsuccessfully attempted suicide at least once before shooting himself in the head in his hotel room in Lucerne, Switzerland.

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Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria

  • Born: August 21, 1858 at Schloss Laxenburg, the summer retreat of the Habsburgs near Vienna, Austria
  • Parents: Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Elisabeth of Bavaria
  • Married: Princess Stéphanie of Belgium in 1881
  • Died: January 30, 1889, aged 30, at Mayerling, a hunting lodge in the Vienna Woods in Mayerling, Austria
  • Buried: Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria
  • Unofficial Royalty: Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria

At Mayerling, a hunting lodge in the Vienna Woods which Rudolf had purchased, Rudolf shot his 17-year-old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera and then shot himself in an apparent suicide plot. Rudolf wrote in his farewell letter to his wife Stéphanie: “Dear Stéphanie! You are free from my presence and plague; be happy in your way. Be good for the poor little one, who is the only thing left of me.”

After Rudolf’s death, Emperor Franz Joseph had the Mayerling hunting lodge changed into a monastery for the nuns of the Discalced Carmelite Order, an order in which members dedicate themselves to a life of prayer. Prayers are still said daily by the nuns for the repose of Rudolf’s soul.

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Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

  • Born: October 15, 1874 at Buckingham Palace in London, England
  • Parents: Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
  • Died: February 6, 1899, aged 24, at Martinnsbrunn Sanatorium in Gratsch, near Meran, Austria, now Merano, Italy
  • Buried: Ducal Mausoleum at the Glockenburg Cemetery in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, now in Bavaria, Germany
  • Unofficial Royalty: Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

In January 1899, Alfred was noticeably absent from the celebrations for his parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. The details surrounding his death were never formally given, and vary from source to source. Some say he was suffering from a breakdown, others a tumor, others tuberculosis. More than likely, he was suffering serious effects of syphilis he had contracted some years earlier. It is generally accepted that Prince Alfred shot himself while the rest of the family was gathered for the anniversary celebrations. Having survived the gunshot, he was cared for at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha for several days, before being moved, against the doctors’ recommendation, to the Martinnsbrunn Sanatorium in Gratsch, near Meran, Austria (now Merano, Italy). This was apparently done at the direction of his mother who was both angry and embarrassed that this all happened while the whole family was gathered together. Alfred died at the sanatorium.

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Princess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

  • Born: July 25, 1888 in Düsseldorf, Kingdom of Prussia, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  • Parents: Prince Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Princess Gerta of Ysenburg and Büdingen
  • Died: September 18, 1913, aged 25, in Heidelberg, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • Buried: Weimarer Fürstengruft in the Historical Cemetery in Weimar, Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, now in Thuringia, Germany
  • Wikipedia: Princess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Sophie shot herself in the forehead in an apparent reaction to her family’s refusal to allow her to marry Hans von Bleichröder, the son of Gerson von Bleichröder, an influential banker.

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Adolf Friedrich VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

  • Born: June 17, 1882 in Neustrelitz, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
  • Parents: Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt
  • Died: February 23, 1918, aged 35, in Neustrelitz, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
  • Buried: Love Island, a small island off Castle Island in Mirow, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
  • Unofficial Royalty: Adolf Friedrich VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

A woman who Adolf Friedrich had a relationship years earlier claimed to have correspondence that linked Adolf Friedrich to “certain homosexual circles” and threatened to release them to the public unless he gave in to her demands for more money. With World War I still raging, and the possibility of these letters being made public, Adolf Friedrich left his home in Neustrelitz on the evening of February 23, 1918, to take his dog for a walk. The following morning, his body was found in a nearby canal with a gunshot wound to his head. He left behind a suicide note which suggested that a woman was attempting to smear his name. However, his close friend, Princess Daisy of Pless suggested that he had developed severe depression over the war and the loss of his beloved grandmother.

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Prince Joachim of Prussia

  • Born: December 17, 1890 in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany
  • Parents: Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia and Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein
  • Married: Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt in 1916
  • Died: July 18, 1920, aged 29, at Villa Leignitz in Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany
  • Buried: first interred in the Friedenskirche in Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany before being moved to the nearby Antique Temple in 1931
  • Unofficial Royalty: Prince Joachim of Prussia

After the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, Joachim struggled to accept his status as a commoner and became greatly depressed. He shot himself with a revolver at Villa Leignitz in Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany. He was found by his elder brother August Wilhelm and taken to the Saint Joseph Hospital in Potsdam, where he died the following day.

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Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen, Princess Heinrich XXX Reuss of Köstritz

  • Born: May 12, 1879 in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany
  • Parents: Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, and Princess Charlotte of Prussia
  • Married: Prince Heinrich XXX Reuss of Köstritz in 1898
  • Died: August 26, 1945, aged 66, in Hirschberg, Silesia, Provisional Government of National Unity now Jelenia Góra, Poland
  • Buried: Schloss Neuhof now in Radociny-Kowary, Poland
  • Wikipedia: Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen, Princess Heinrich XXX Reuss of Köstritz

Feodora’s mother was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Feodora suffered poor health most of her adult life. She constantly battled with various physical ailments, insomnia, and severe depression, similar to the health problems of her mother. Feodora spent the last years of her life at the Sanatorium Buchwald-Hohenwiese, near Hirschberg, Silesia, now in Poland. Apparently tired of her suffering, Feodora died by suicide by putting her head in a gas oven.

Researchers found Feodora’s grave and did DNA analysis on her remains, believing that the results would show that she had the genetic disease porphyria, the same disease her ancestor King George III supposedly suffered from. The analysis did show that she had porphyria which was most likely the cause of her many ailments.

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Prince Ludwig Rudolph of Hanover

  • Born: November 21, 1955 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany
  • Parents: Ernst August IV, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, Prince of Hanover and Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
  • Married: Countess Isabella von Thurn-Valsassina-Como-Vercelli in 1987
  • Died: November 29, 1988, aged 33, in Gmunden, Austria
  • Buried: Grünau im Almtal, Austria
  • Wikipedia: Prince Ludwig Rudolph of Hanover

Ludwig Rudolph found his wife on her bed, dead from a drug overdose. He then got in his car and drove away. Several hours later Ludwig Rudolph was found near his family’s hunting lodge. He was in his car with the motor running and had shot himself. Ludwig Rudolph and his wife left a ten-month-old son who was raised by his maternal grandparents.

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Princess Margarita of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenzollern

  • Born: May 9, 1932 in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany
  • Parents: Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen and Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia
  • Married: Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern in 1951
  • Died: June 16, 1994, aged 62, in Überlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • Buried: Church of Christ the Redeemer Cemetery in Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • Wikipedia: Princess Margarita of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenzollern

Margarita’s maternal grandmother was Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her father was a descendant of both of Queen Victoria’s half-siblings Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen and Princess Feodora of Leiningen. Margarita died by suicide.

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Prince Ernst Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

  • Born: January 14, 1935 in Hirschberg, Germany
  • Parents: Johann Leopold, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Baroness Feodora von der Horst
  • Married: (1) Ingeborg Henig in 1961, divorced 1963 (2) Gertraude Monika Pfeiffer in 1963, divorced 1985 (3) Sabine Biller in 1986
  • Died: June 27, 1996, aged 61, in Bad Wiessee, Germany
  • Buried: ?
  • Wikipedia: Prince Ernst Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Ernst Leopold’s grandfather was Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a grandson of Queen Victoria. Ernst Leopold’s father Johann Leopold was Charles Edward’s eldest son but because he made an unequal marriage, Johann Leopold had to renounce succession rights for himself and any children from the marriage. Johann Leopold’s brother Friedrich Josias became Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha upon their father’s death in 1954,

Ill-fortune also followed Johann Leopold’s elder son Ernst Leopold. In 1986, Ernst Leopold married for a third time to Sabine Biller, a journalist. The couple began to have money problems as they were living beyond their means. On June 27, 1996, in the parking lot of a chalet restaurant in Bad Wiessee, Bavaria, Germany, the bodies of Ernst Leopold and Sabine were found in their car, dead from gunshot wounds from hunting rifles. Apparently, they had simultaneously shot themselves.

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Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah, King of Nepal

  • Born: June 27, 1971 in Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Parents: Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, King of Nepal and Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah
  • Died: June 4, 2001, aged 29, in Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Buried: Cremated, ashes scattered in the Bagamati River in Katmandu, Nepal
  • Wikipedia: Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah, King of Nepal

Crown Prince Dipendra opened fire at a house on the grounds of the Narayanhity Royal Palace, the residence of the Nepalese monarchy, where a party was being held. He shot and killed his father King Birendra, his mother Queen Aishwarya, and seven other members of the royal family, including his younger brother and sister, before shooting himself in the head. Four other royal family members were wounded. Dipendra was declared king while in a coma. He died three days later.

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Princess Leila Pahlavi of Iran

  • Born: March 27, 1970 in Tehran, Iran
  • Parents: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran and Farah Diba
  • Died: June 10, 2001, aged 31, at the Leonard Hotel in London, United Kingdom
  • Buried: Passy Cemetery in Paris, France
  • Wikipedia: Princess Leila Pahlavi of Iran

Leila’s father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran had been overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and spent the rest of his life in exile. Leila suffered from anorexia, bulimia, and food intolerances. Her doctor found her dead in her hotel room. An autopsy revealed that she had taken more than five times the lethal dose of the barbiturate Seconal and a nonlethal amount of cocaine.

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Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi of Iran

 

  • Born: April 28, 1966 in Tehran, Iran
  • Parents: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran and Farah Diba
  • Died: January 4, 2011, aged 44 in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
  • Buried: Cremated, ashes scattered in the Caspian Sea
  • Wikipedia: Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi of Iran

Ali-Reza’s father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran had been overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and spent the rest of his life in exile. After a long period of depression related to his father’s overthrow and his sister Leila’s suicide, Ali-Reza died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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