and was enjoyed by the Habsburg court. After Elisabeth's death in 1898, Pauline together with Princess Eleonora Fugger von Babenhausen took the leading role of grand dames of the Vienna society. Duel It is claimed that in August 1892 Pauline took part in a sword duel with Countess Anastasia von Kielmannsegg (1860–1912). The disagreement supposedly stemmed from a dispute over a floral arrangement at the Vienna Musical and Theatre Exposition, of which the nobles were honorary president and president of the exhibition, respectively. The supposed duel involved the participants stripping to the waist to reduce the risk of a wound becoming infected; the image of two topless nobles captured the imagination of artists and scandalized Victorians. However there are no primary sources for the story, only accounts from foreign newspapers; furthermore, not long after the first accounts were published, a French newspaper printed a denial by the Princess, in which she calls the story a "ridiculous invention by Italian journalists". Legacy Princess Pauline died in Vienna in 1921. She lived through the glory and fall of the Austrian and French empires and was believed to be a living symbol of these two lost worlds. A portrait of her by French impressionist Edgar Degas, painted from a photograph, now hangs in the National Gallery, London. She wrote two books of memoirs. The first, Gesehenes, geschehenes, erlebtes, in German, honored her grandfather, Chancellor Metternich, and father, Count Moritz Sándor, and the second, Éclairs du passé, in French, recalled her life and times in the court of Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie. Both were published posthumously in the 1920s. Issue Richard and Pauline von Metternich had three children : Princess Sophie von Metternich-Sandor Winneburg (1857–1941) Princess Pascalina Antoinette von Metternich-Sandor Winneburg (1862–1890) Princess Klementina Marie von Metternich-Sandor Winneburg (1870-1963) Since the marriage produced no sons, Richard's title of "Prince von Metternich" passed to his half-brother, Paul von Metternich. Memoirs Pauline Clementine Marie Walburga (Sándor von Szlavnicza), Fürstin von Metternich-Winneburg. The Days That Are No More: Some Reminiscences. E. Nash & Grayson, London (1921). ASIN B000881512 Pauline Clementine Marie Walburga (Sándor von Szlavnicza), Fürstin von Metternich-Winneburg. My Years in Paris. E. Nash & Grayson, London (1922). ASIN B00085ZS7W Literature Octave Aubry, L'Impératrice Eugénie, Paris 1937. Jules Gesztesi, Pauline Metternich. Ambassadrice aux Tuileries, Paris 1947. Theophila Wassilko, Fürstin Pauline Metternich, Munich 1959. Brigitte Hamann, Elisabeth. Kaiserin wider Willen, Vienna 1982. External links Sándor family