Prince Marie Edouard-Xavier Ferdinand Auguste Gaspard de Lobkowicz (18 October 1960 – 27 April 1984) was a French aristocrat, military officer, and murder victim. The eldest son of Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz and Princess Marie Françoise of Bourbon-Parma, he was a member of the Lobkowicz family and a descendent of the House of Bourbon-Parma the House of Bourbon-Busset. Prince Edouard-Xavier was a trained paratrooper who served as a lieutenant in the Reserve of the French Army and was a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
| Prince Edouard-Xavier | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 18 October 1960 Paris, France | ||||
| Died | 27 April 1984 (aged 23) Ivry-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne, France | ||||
| |||||
| House | Lobkowicz | ||||
| Father | Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz | ||||
| Mother | Princess Marie-Françoise of Bourbon-Parma | ||||
| Occupation | military officer | ||||
On 2 April 1984, Prince Edouard-Xavier went missing. A few weeks later, on 27 April 1984, his body was discovered in the Seine. An autopsy revealed that he had been murdered, with a gunshot wound in the throat and left shoulder blade.
Early life and family
editPrince Edouard-Xavier was born at the American Hospital of Paris on 18 October 1960 to Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz and Princess Marie Françoise of Bourbon-Parma.[1] He was a member of the House of Lobkowicz, a Czech princely house.[2] His paternal grandparents were Prince Edouard Josef von Lobkowicz and the American golfer and businesswoman Anita Lihme.[2] His maternal grandparents were Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Carlist pretender to the Spanish throne and head of the House of Bourbon-Parma, and Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset, daughter of Georges de Bourbon-Busset, Count de Lignières and a member of the non-dynastic Bourbon-Busset line of the House of Bourbon.[2] He was a great-grandson of the Danish-American industrialist C. Bai Lihme and a great-great grandson of the American manufacturer Edward C. Hegeler.[2]
Prince Edouard-Xavier was the nephew of Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma, Princess María Teresa of Bourbon-Parma, Princess Cécile, Countess of Poblet, and Prince Sixtus Henry, Duke of Aranjuez. He was the older brother of Princess Marie-Gabrielle, Prince Robert, and Prince Charles-Henri.[2]
After graduating from secondary school in France, he attended the University of San Francisco, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1983.[2] He had plans of working in finance.[1]
Prince Edouard-Xavier was a lieutenant in the Reserve of the French Army and had done active service as a paratrooper.[2] A devout Catholic, he was a Knight of Honor and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.[2]
Disappearance and murder
editOn 2 April 1984, Prince Edouard-Xavier left his parents' Paris residence for an appointment after receiving a telephone call.[1] Two days later, his parents reported his disappearance to the French authorities.[1] A few weeks later, his car was discovered in the parking lot of the Gare de Lyon.[1][2] His body, partly decomposed, was discovered on 27 April 1984 in the waters of the Seine, southeast (upstream) of Paris in Ivry-sur-Seine.[2] An autopsy revealed that he was shot in the throat and left shoulder blade, and that his body had been in the water "for some time".[1][2] His remains remained unidentified for over a week after the discovery, and his family was not notified until 4 May 1984.[2] He was shot with a hunting rifle and his body was tossed into the Seine River, weighed down by a large iron bar tied around his waist.[1][3]
An investigation was opened after his death, but no reason was found as to why he had been murdered. The French newspaper France-Soir ran a story suggesting that he had been abducted and murdered due to his mother's connections with charitable organizations for Lebanese Christians and because of his father's association with the arms industry.[1]