Prince Iancu Racoviță (1843–1865)^[1] was a nobleman from Wallachia. He participated in a notable duel on 28. August 1864. He had come from Romania to Berlin in 1856, where he studied philosophy and law at Berlin university. He became a member of a German Student Corps there.

A diplomat in Bavarian service, Wilhelm von Dönniges [de] (d. 1872), father of Helene von Dönniges [de] (1846–1911) intended the prince to marry his daughter. She preferred a Social Democratic leader of the labour movement, Ferdinand Lassalle, known for his independence from persons such as Karl Marx.

When her father heard of their plans to marry, he locked her in a room and arranged an engagement with Prince Iancu Racoviță. Lassalle challenged Helene's father. When the Prince heard of this, he took over Lassalle's challenge - this was a common duelling procedure, when an older man was challenged by a younger one. Lassalle had no experience in the use of pistols and only one day to prepare. Shot in the groin, Ferdinand Lassalle died in Switzerland.

Following the duel, Racoviţă fell ill and died not long after Helene von Dönniges married him. His widow married a second time an actor named Siegwart Friedmann [de] and became an actress herself. This marriage ended in divorce in 1873. Together with her third husband, the Russian newspaper editor and socialist political activist Sergei Shevitch, she then moved to America, returning to Europe in 1890.

• Princess Helene von Racowitza, An Autobiography (1911)

• sahistory.org
• Dictionary of Political Figures