 In the 1780s, Ribbing came in conflict with the monarch, Gustav III, partially under influence of the ideas then popular in France.His animosity was nurtured when Charlotta Eleonora De Geer, with whom he was in love, was matched by the king with count Hans Henrik von Essen.The engagement was widely disapproved of within the court because of sympathy with the popular Augusta von Fersen, to whom von Essen had been a long term lover, and Ribbing challenged von Essen to a duel.