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(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Count Hans Axel von Fersen (1755-1810), Swedish statesman, was carefully educated at home, at the Carolinum at Brunswick and at Turin. In 1779 he entered the French military service Royal-Bavière, accompanied General Rochambeau to America as his adjutant, served as interpreter between him and General Washington, distinguished himself during the war with England, notably at the siege of Yorktown, 1781, and in 1785 was promoted to be colonel proprietaire of the regiment Royal-Suédois.
In 1785 Marie Antoinette would give birth to Louis-Charles, the first titular Duke of Normandy in centuries. Afterwards the Louis XVI wrote in his journal that it had happened just as when "his own son" had been born. Some have claimed that Louis-Charles, later dauphin of France, was the biological child of Marie Antoinette and Fersen.
When the war with Russia broke out, in 1788, Fersen accompanied his regiment to Finland, but in the autumn of the same year was sent to France, where the political horizon was already darkening. It was necessary for Gustav III to have an agent thoroughly in the confidence of the French royal family, and, at the same time, sufficiently able and audacious to help them in their desperate straits, especially as he had lost all confidence in his accredited minister, the baron de Stael. With his usual acumen, he fixed upon Fersen, who was at his post early in 1790. Before the end of the year he was forced to admit that the cause of the French monarchy was hopeless so long as the king and queen of France were nothing but captives in their own capital, at the mercy of an irresponsible mob.
He had the leading role in the flight to Varennes. He found most of the requisite funds at the last moment. He ordered the construction of the famous carriage for six, in the name of the baroness von Korff, and kept it in his hotel grounds, rue Matignon, that all Paris might get accustomed to the sight of it. He was the coachman of the fiacre which drove the royal family from the Carrousel to the Porte Saint-Martin. He accompanied them to Bondy, the first stage of their journey.
During the regency of the Duke Charles of Sudermannia (1792-1796) Fersen, like all the other Gustavians, was in disgrace; but, on Gustav IV attaining his majority in 1796, he was welcomed back to court with open arms, and reinstated in all his offices and dignities. In 1801 he was appointed Riksmarskalk, or Earl Marshal. On the outbreak of the war with Napoleon, Fersen accompanied Gustav IV to Germany to assist him in gaining fresh allies. He prevented Gustav from invading Prussia in revenge for the refusal of the king of Prussia to declare war against France, and during the rest of the reign was in semi disgrace, though generally a member of the government when the king was abroad.Fersen's relationship with Marie Antoinette
The young nobleman was, from the first, a prime favourite at the French court, owing partly to the recollection of his father's devotion to France, but principally because of his own amiable and brilliant qualities. Queen Marie Antoinette, who had first met Fersen when they both were age 16, was especially attracted by the grace and wit of "le beau" Fersen, who had inherited his full share of the striking handsomeness which was hereditary in the family. It is possible that Fersen would have spent most of his life at Versailles, but for a hint from his own sovereign, then at Pisa, that he desired him to join his suite. Fersen accompanied Gustav III of Sweden in his Italian tour and returned home with him in 1784.Politics
In August 1791, Fersen was sent to Vienna to induce the emperor Leopold to accede to a new coalition against revolutionary France, but he soon came to the conclusion that the Austrian court meant to do nothing at all. At his own request, therefore, he was transferred to Brussels, where he could be of more service to the queen of France. In February 1792, at his own mortal peril, he once more succeeded in reaching Paris with counterfeit credentials as minister plenipotentiary to Portugal. On the 13th he arrived, and the same evening contrived to steal an interview with the queen unobserved. On the following day he was with the royal family from six o’clock in the evening till six o’clock the next morning, and convinced himself that a second flight was physically impossible. On the afternoon of the 21st he succeeded in paying a third visit to the Tuileries, stayed there till midnight and succeeded, with great difficulty, in reaching Brussels on the 27th. This perilous expedition, a monumental instance of courage and loyalty, had no substantial result. In 1797 Fersen was sent to the congress of Rastatt as the Swedish delegate, but in consequence of a protest from the French government, was not permitted to take part in it.
Source: the above text is adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Axel von Fersen."
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
