Chapter 43 – But What About a Crime?

Before the final conclusion, it is time to look back once more and ask: was there a crime – any crime – at all? To the best of my knowledge, no, there was not. Yet the potential was certainly there.

Of the classical triad of criminal preconditions – motive, means, and opportunity – the Princess Schwarzenberg had none. The Prince, by contrast, possessed all three, though not to the same degree. His motive for wishing to be rid of his wife is beyond question, and because she was legally and domestically under his authority, he had ample opportunity for malicious scheming. True, such seemingly oppressive authority was traditionally coupled with both judicial and moral responsibility. In the end, the salvation of his soul was, I believe, the decisive consideration that restrained the Prince as a religious Christian from taking any irreversibly harmful action against his wife. Still, he could be accused of criminal intent – or at the very least of an unforgivable neglect that caused the unfortunate Princess emotional, mental, and physical suffering for many years.

The photo shows the castle of Chreštovice in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic), where Prince Schwarzenberg exiled his wife in the early years of their separation. The estate appears poorly maintained today, but at the beginning of the eighteenth century it was described as remote, half-abandoned, and unhealthy – anything but a suitable residence for a princess.