Leon Sigismund

Leon Sigismund

Portrayed by Placeholder; former character
Full Name	Leon Frederick Sigismund
Title	Duke of Cambridge
Associated Noble House(s)	Dukedom of Cambridge (2)
Date of Birth	August 7th, 1789
Father	Frederick Sigismund
Father's Rank	Duke of Cambridge
Mother	Rachel Sigismund
Mother's Rank	Duchess of Cambridge
Town Residence	Sigismund House
Income
School
University
Year Attained Title	1811

Family

• Father: Frederick Russell Sigismund, 3rd Duke of Cambridge [1745-1809]
• Mother: Rachel Charlotte Plympton-Sigismund, Dowager Duchess of Cambridge [b. 1749]
• Brothers: Russell Anthony Sigismund, 4th Duke of Cambridge [1768-1811]; Lord David Eric Sigismund [1771-1798]
• Sister: Lady Danielle Sigismund [1784

Background

Leon Sigismund was born in London at his family's palatial town residence, Sigismund House. The pregnancy, his mother's last and at quite an old age for the time (40), occurred with great difficulty, although she survived after several weeks of recuperation. His parents tried to be as loving as possible, but they were so busy managing family affairs and with business issues (Duke Frederick owned a major shipping consortium that required a great deal of his time to manage and he was also grooming Russell to inherit the company). His two brothers were too busy with their own issues to spend much time with Leon.

As a little child, his closest relationship was with his sister, who viewed Leon as almost like a little doll (he was a particularly petite child, although he would grow with time). And obviously, there was a slew of governesses that looked after the young boy's physical needs and, as soon as he was deemed ready, tutors were hired to teach him (starting with the fundamentals of course). When Leon was nine, his brother David died of typhoid fever. Although Leon's parents were distraught, it was hard for Leon to relate since he barely knew his older brother (who had been 27 and was serving as an officer in the Royal Navy).

The death that would affect him the most would be that of his sister, Danielle. While out carriage-riding with Leon (although he was now 12 and she was 17, she still spent time with him), there was an accident and carriage overturned. Leon suffered only minor scratches, but his sister had struck her head on the pavement and died almost immediately. Her death left him feeling guilty and spiralled into a depressive state. For days, he would sit in a dark room wanting no human contact and, sometimes, going without eating. He began to worry about his own death and became paranoid to even leave the house. He heard stories about his brother's death and began to fear illness. Everything suddenly had to be perfectly clean around him. He would eat no meat and pace around nervously all day.

Interestingly enough, the only things that seemed to distract him from his fears and neuroses were his studies and reading. When he was not in the grips of grief or fear, he dived into academics. It almost seemed as though his tutor could not keep up with his pupil's desire to learn more. When he was not studying, he was reading. Whether novels, poetry, essays, even the Bible. Anything that could take his mind off losing the only person he was truly close to.

With his poor diet and habits (including refusing to go out into the sunlight), his health took a bad turn when he was in his teens. Suffering from fits of the ague, he was sent to Venice for several years, hoping that the famous climate would pull Leon out of his physical, and maybe even emotional, maladies. Physically at least, it worked. His health began to improve and, perhaps, for a time, his spirits improved as well.

When Frederick died of apoplexy (he was quite unhealthy, eating and working too much and getting up in the years), the now much healthier Leon returned to England. Leon stayed in London, but wanting to be away from people for the most part. He took a small flat and did not even tell his elder brother, now the Duke, where he was. Again, he fell into escapism, reading for the most part, although he also wrote several essays on his life in Italy. These essays were quite popular actually and even got Leon's name mentioned in one of the gossip rags (his neuroses had become quite common knowledge by now and he was unashamed to admit to his oddities, attempts at escapism and a general lack of enthusiasm in his writings). He was quite the hermit at this time, although he visited his mother and elder brother occasionally and attended church every Sunday, although he always sat in the back with the lower classes (this garnered him a bit more attention in the rags).

His brother would be the Duke of Cambridge for a short period of time before he too would face untimely death. He would catch a severe case of the ague, but, unlike his younger brother, he would not overcome it (remember that Russell was 43). Since his brother had no male heirs, the title and control over all assets (including the shipping company his father and grandfather before him had built up) passed over to 22-year-old Leon. Many people, especially his mother (who is quite healthy and mentally sharp), worry what will happen now with Leon being the proverbial 'head of the family'.