20. Marie Antoinette’s Last Time With Her Swedish Love
It did not take long before Count Axel von Fersen’s role in the royal family’s flight came to light, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He fled France and got in touch with aristocratic French exiles led by Louis XVI’s younger brother, the Comte d’Artois, who sought to roll back the French Revolution and restore the Ancien Regime. Von Fersen assisted in their efforts to try and get other European powers to declare war on revolutionary France. In August 1791, he traveled to Vienna, where he met Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, the brother of von Fersen’s love, Marie Antoinette.
He snuck back into Paris, disguised with a big wig and fake mustache, and claimed to be an envoy from Portugal’s queen. In December of 1791, that got him into the Tuileries Palace, where Louis and Marie Antoinette were now held captive under tight guard. He pitched them another escape plan: since the roads were now closely watched, the king would flee through the woods, and then by sea. In the meantime, Marie Antoinette’s love would spirit her and the children away via another route. Louis shot the plan down because he did not believe it would work. That night, von Fersen saw Marie Antoinette for the last time.
