The Topless Duel Between Princess Pauline Von Metternich And Countess Anastasia Von Kielmannsegg
Public DomainAn Affair of Honour (1900) by Paul Balluriau, depicting the duel.
In August 1892, Princess Pauline von Metternich and Countess Anastasia von Kielmannsegg, having had a few glasses of champagne, clashed over floral arrangements for the Vienna Musical and Theatrical Exposition.
The 56-year-old Austrian princess served as the honorary president, while the younger countess was the president of the Ladies’ Committee for the exposition. As the story goes, each woman hoped to establish herself as the final say on tastemaking in Vienna, so their minor disagreement ultimately led to the exchange of harsh words and the declaration of a duel.
Since dueling was frowned upon in Austria, however, they traveled to Vaduz, Liechtenstein, to carry out the challenge.
Baroness Lubinska oversaw the duel. She was a Polish physician who practiced antiseptic surgical principles. Having witnessed battlefield infections, the noblewoman insisted that Metternich and Kielmannsegg fight topless to prevent dirty fabric from being driven into wounds and causing sepsis. The women felt this was a good idea, and the male servants were ordered to turn away.
Public DomainA French film recreation of the duel from 1901.
“It was a real fight, and both were wounded — no hair pulling or plain scratching, but a duel with rapiers — and both ladies are of the creme of the creme,” one newspaper, The Missoulian, reported at the time.
The women purportedly fought three rounds. Princess Metternich received a cut to her nose, while Countess Kielmannsegg was wounded in the arm. The baroness then declared honor satisfied and treated their wounds.
There is some debate about the credibility of these claims, however. Princess Metternich publicly denied that this “Emancipated Duel” — so called because all the participants were women — ever happened, and some Viennese newspapers suggested the whole incident may have been a bit of Italian satire.
