Axel von Fersen
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant General
Count
Hans Axel von Fersen hɑːns ˈaksɛl fɔn ˈfæʃɛn (Stockholm
4 September 1755 – Stockholm
20 June 1810) was a Swedish Count
, a Lieutenant General
in the Royal Swedish Army
, one of the Lords of the Realm
, diplomat
and statesman
. He is famous in history as the alleged lover of Queen Marie Antoinette
of France.
He was the son of the statesman Axel von Fersen the Elder and the countess Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie
(through her relatives to the Royal House of Vasa
), nephew of Eva Ekeblad
and grandson of General Hans Reinhold Fersen
.
He was carefully educated at home, at the Carolinum at Brunswick, in Turin
, and in Strasbourg
. In 1779 he entered the French
military service with the Royal-Bavière Regiment. He accompanied the French commander in chief General Rochambeau
's expedition to America
and also acted as an interpreter between Rochambeau and Washington
. He distinguished himself militarily, notably at the siege of Yorktown, 1781,
and in 1785 was made proprietary colonel of the regiment Royal Suédois
. At the close of the American Revolution, he became an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati. He is famous as a lover and had affairs with various women, especially the Italian-born adventuress Eleanore Sullivan, and the Royal Duchess Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, married to the future King Charles XIII of Sweden
; It is not known when her affair with Axel von Fersen occurred, it is only known that she wished to resume it when Fersen returned to Sweden after the death of Marie Antoinette and that Fersen refused to do so. King Charles was in his turn the lover of the cousin of Axel, Augusta von Fersen
.
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 18 (January 1774), 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 remained at Versailles
, following the American war, but he was commanded by his own sovereign, then at Pisa
, that he desired him to join his suite. Fersen accompanied Gustav III of Sweden
in his tour of Italy
and France
, and returned home with him in 1784.
In 1785 Marie Antoinette would give birth to Louis-Charles
, the first titular Duke of Normandy
in centuries. Afterwards 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. However, this is unlikely. Some have claimed that Louis XVI actually meant when "his first son" was born. Secondly, little Louis XVII was noted to resemble two members of the Bourbon family: his paternal uncle Charles X
(Louis XVI's youngest brother) and his late grandmother, Princess Maria-Josefa
(Louis XVI's mother). The claim that Fersen was the biological father of Louis XVII
has been discounted by the child's recent biographer, Deborah Cadbury
, and by Marie-Antoinette's biographer Antonia Fraser
.
It is simply impossible to state how far the love affair went. It was difficult for the Queen of France to remain alone for long; she was always accompanied by others. Unless some original documents are uncovered between Marie Antoinette and Fersen, it is an open question whether their relationship was platonic or not. The color of Fersen's eyes and hair is reason for controversy, as Marie Antoinette's son was fair-colored (as was Marie Antoinette herself, who was blonde), while Fersen's eyes were supposedly hazel, because they are said to be green, blue and even dark brown in different descriptions. The color of Fersen's hair is disputed. It is believed it was naturally light brown or a kind of dark blond; however, it is said he used to dye it black.
When Gustav III's war with Russia broke out, in 1788, Fersen accompanied his monarch as an adjutant 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
Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein
. 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.
Count von Fersen was instrumental in the writing of the Brunswick Manifesto.
He had the leading role in the royal family's 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 at his own home on the Rue Matignon, so 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 Place du Carrousel
to the Porte Saint-Martin
, where the carriage awaited them. He accompanied them as far as Bondy
, the first stage of their journey.
to induce the emperor Leopold
to accede to a new coalition against revolutionary France, but he soon came to the conclusion that the Austria
n 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. Before he left, he followed the imperial court to Prague for Leopold's coronation
as king of Bohemia
on 6 September. According to an account of the coronation published in Alexander von Kleist's Fantasien auf einer Reise nach Prag (1792), Fersen was present at a performance of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
given at the Estates Theatre
on September 2. Kleist recorded that Fersen made a spectacle of himself trying to arrange romantic liaisons among the female audience members and noted how ostentatiously he displayed the French royalist white cockade.
In February 1792, at his own mortal peril, Fersen once more succeeded in reaching Paris in disguise and 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 in the Tuilleries Palace itself, 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 until 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. There followed some years of relative inactivity after Gustav III's assassination in 1792 and the execution of the French King and Queen in 1793. In 1797 Fersen was sent to the Second 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.
During this congress it is told that Napoléon simply called him Monsieur, neglecting the fact that he was an appointed ambassador, a count, and one of the Lords of the Realm of Sweden (en av Rikets Herrar). Napoléon declared that he would never discuss anything with a person who had had an affair with the widow Capet (Marie Antoinette
). Fersen thereupon served the following two years as Sweden's envoy to the court of Baden.
During the regency of the Duke Charles of Södermanland
(1792–1796) Fersen, like other prominent Gustavians, or loyal supporters of the late Gustav III, was in disgrace. When Gustav IV Adolf
attained his majority in 1796, Fersen was welcomed back to court. In 1799 he was made chancellor of Uppsala University to suppress radical student unrest and in 1801 was appointed Riksmarskalk, or Marshal of the Realm. On the outbreak of the war of the Third Coalition with Napoleon in 1805, Fersen accompanied Gustav IV Adolf to Germany as his political advisor. He prevented Gustav Adolf from attacking Prussia
when it declined to join the war against France. During the rest of Gustav IV Adolf's reign Fersen was therefore in semi-disgrace, though he continued to serve in Sweden's interim governments when the king was abroad.
, or parliament, however elected as successor the highly popular Danish prince Carl August of Augustenburg. When the new crown prince suddenly died in Skåne in May 1810, the rumor spread that he had been poisoned, and that Fersen and his sister, the countess Sophie Piper
, were accessories. The source of these accusations has never been discovered. But it was eagerly taken up by the anti-Gustavian press, and popular suspicion was especially aroused by a fable called 'The Foxes' directed against the Fersens, which appeared in the radical newspaper Nya Posten.
When on 20 June 1810, the prince's body was conveyed to Stockholm, Fersen, as Marshal of the Realm, received it at the barrier and led the funeral cortege into the city. His fine carriage and splendid dress seemed to spectators an open derision of the general grief. The crowd began to murmur and presently to throw stones and cry "murderer!" He was forced to seek refuge in a house near the Riddarhus Square
, but the mob rushed after him, brutally maltreated him, tearing his clothes to pieces. At this time the Royal Life Guards
standing in formation on the square attempted to protect Fersen, but the commanding officer gave the order "För fot gevär!" (English: Attention! Rifles by the foot).
To quiet the people and save the unhappy victim, two officers volunteered to conduct him to the court house and there place him under arrest. But he had no sooner been taken there than the crowd, which had followed him all the way beating him with sticks and umbrellas, broke in, dragged him out, and kicked and trampled him to death. The riot, which lasted more than an hour, happened in the presence of numerous troops, who were forbidden to rescue the Marshal of the Realm from his tormentors. Later that evening the troops fired on the rioters, killing and wounding several of them.
Fersen's contemporary, Baron Gustaf Armfelt
, stated "One is almost tempted to say that the government wanted to give the people a victim to play with, just as when one throws something to an irritated wild beast to distract its attention. The more I consider it all, the more I am certain that the mob had the least to do with it. . . . But in God's name what were the troops about? How could such a thing happen in broad daylight during a procession, when troops and a military escort were actually present?"
A few months after the murder Axel von Fersen and his family were cleared of any suspicion connected with the death of Carl August of Augustenburg
, and he finally received a state burial with all pomp and ceremony. His sister Sophie Piper
thereafter withdrew from Stockholm
to her Löfstad manor
, near Norrköping
. Here she raised a memorial to her brother, with the inscription:
Åt en oförgätlig broder, mannamodet uti hans sista stunder den 20 juni 1810 vittna om hans dygder och sinnes lugn (To an unforgettable brother, the courage in his last moments on the 20th of June 1810, bears testimony to his virtues and clean conscience)
Generallöjtnant
Finnish Defence Forces rank of Kenraaliluutnantti is comparable to Ranks of NATO armies officers as OF-8- Holders of the rank in Sweden :* Head of operations* Head of productions—responsible for the training of all troops* Head of special forces...
Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
Hans Axel von Fersen hɑːns ˈaksɛl fɔn ˈfæʃɛn (Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
4 September 1755 – Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
20 June 1810) was a Swedish Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
, a Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
in the Royal Swedish Army
Swedish Army
The Swedish Army is one of the oldest standing armies in the world and a branch of the Swedish Armed Forces; it is in charge of land operations. General Sverker Göranson is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Army.- Organization :...
, one of the Lords of the Realm
Lord of the Realm
En af rikets herrar or Lord of the Realm was a title introduced by King Gustaf III of Sweden after his bloodless coup d'état in 1772, and after the new constitution was passed by the Riksdag of the Estates. The title was not hereditary and was not connected with any special function or appointment...
, diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
. He is famous in history as the alleged lover of Queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
of France.
He was the son of the statesman Axel von Fersen the Elder and the countess Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie
Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie
Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie was a Swedish noblewoman of the French-descent De la Gardie family. She was the daughter of the General and statesman Magnus Julius De la Gardie and the political salonist Hedvig Catharina Lilje, and sister of scientist Eva Ekeblad.She married Axel von Fersen the...
(through her relatives to the Royal House of Vasa
House of Vasa
The House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden 1523-1654 and of Poland 1587-1668. It originated from a noble family in Uppland of which several members had high offices during the 15th century....
), nephew of Eva Ekeblad
Eva Ekeblad
Eva Ekeblad , née Eva De la Gardie, was a Swedish agronomist, scientist, Salonist and noble . Her most known discovery was to make flour and alcohol out of potatoes...
and grandson of General Hans Reinhold Fersen
Hans Reinhold Fersen
Hans Reinhold von Fersen was a Swedish count, politician and soldier. He served as lieutenant general from 1720 and as president of the Svea Court of Appeal from 1731....
.
He was carefully educated at home, at the Carolinum at Brunswick, in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, and in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
. In 1779 he entered the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
military service with the Royal-Bavière Regiment. He accompanied the French commander in chief General Rochambeau
Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau
Marshal of France Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau was a French nobleman and general who participated in the American Revolutionary War as the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Force which came to help the American Continental Army...
's expedition to America
Expédition Particulière
Expédition Particulière was the code name given by the French government for the plan to sail French land forces to North America to support the American rebel forces against Britain in the American Revolutionary War. In English they were known as the Special Expedition.The expedition of 5,000...
and also acted as an interpreter between Rochambeau and Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. He distinguished himself militarily, notably at the siege of Yorktown, 1781,
and in 1785 was made proprietary colonel of the regiment Royal Suédois
Royal Suédois
The Royal-Suédois was an infantry regiment in the French Army during the Ancien Régime. It was created in 1690 from Swedish prisoners taken during the Battle of Fleurus. The regiment was very successful and eventually earned the right and privilege to be called a Royal regiment. Thus it was named...
. At the close of the American Revolution, he became an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati. He is famous as a lover and had affairs with various women, especially the Italian-born adventuress Eleanore Sullivan, and the Royal Duchess Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, married to the future King Charles XIII of Sweden
Charles XIII of Sweden
Charles XIII & II also Carl, , was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 until his death...
; It is not known when her affair with Axel von Fersen occurred, it is only known that she wished to resume it when Fersen returned to Sweden after the death of Marie Antoinette and that Fersen refused to do so. King Charles was in his turn the lover of the cousin of Axel, Augusta von Fersen
Augusta von Fersen
Christina Augusta von Fersen, as married Löwenhielm , was a Swedish noble and lady-in-waiting. She is a well-known figure of the Gustavian Age, and is known in history as one of "The Three Graces" at court, and as royal mistress to king Charles XIII of Sweden.-Background:Augusta was the daughter of...
.
Fersen's relationship with Marie Antoinette
The young nobleman was, from the first, a prime favouriteFavourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
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
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
, who had first met Fersen when they both were age 18 (January 1774), 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 remained at Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, following the American war, but he was commanded by his own sovereign, then at Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
, that he desired him to join his suite. Fersen accompanied Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....
in his tour of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and returned home with him in 1784.
Louis XVII of France
Louis XVII , from birth to 1789 known as Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy; then from 1789 to 1791 as Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France; and from 1791 to 1793 as Louis-Charles, Prince Royal of France, was the son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette...
, the first titular Duke of Normandy
Duke of Normandy
The Duke of Normandy is the title of the reigning monarch of the British Crown Dependancies of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. The title traces its roots to the Duchy of Normandy . Whether the reigning sovereign is a male or female, they are always titled as the "Duke of...
in centuries. Afterwards Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
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. However, this is unlikely. Some have claimed that Louis XVI actually meant when "his first son" was born. Secondly, little Louis XVII was noted to resemble two members of the Bourbon family: his paternal uncle Charles X
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
(Louis XVI's youngest brother) and his late grandmother, Princess Maria-Josefa
Marie-Josèphe of Saxony
Maria Josepha of Saxony was a Duchess of Saxony and the Dauphine of France. She became Dauphine at the age of fifteen through her marriage to Louis de France, the son and heir of Louis XV...
(Louis XVI's mother). The claim that Fersen was the biological father of Louis XVII
Louis XVII of France
Louis XVII , from birth to 1789 known as Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy; then from 1789 to 1791 as Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France; and from 1791 to 1793 as Louis-Charles, Prince Royal of France, was the son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette...
has been discounted by the child's recent biographer, Deborah Cadbury
Deborah Cadbury
Deborah Cadbury is an award-winning British author and BBC television producer specialising in fundamental issues of science and history, and their effects on modern society....
, and by Marie-Antoinette's biographer Antonia Fraser
Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, DBE , née Pakenham, is an Anglo-Irish author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction, best known as Antonia Fraser...
.
It is simply impossible to state how far the love affair went. It was difficult for the Queen of France to remain alone for long; she was always accompanied by others. Unless some original documents are uncovered between Marie Antoinette and Fersen, it is an open question whether their relationship was platonic or not. The color of Fersen's eyes and hair is reason for controversy, as Marie Antoinette's son was fair-colored (as was Marie Antoinette herself, who was blonde), while Fersen's eyes were supposedly hazel, because they are said to be green, blue and even dark brown in different descriptions. The color of Fersen's hair is disputed. It is believed it was naturally light brown or a kind of dark blond; however, it is said he used to dye it black.
When Gustav III's war with Russia broke out, in 1788, Fersen accompanied his monarch as an adjutant to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, but in the autumn of the same year was sent to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan 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
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein
Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein
Baron Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein, . Erik Magnus was Chamberlain to Her Majesty Queen Sophia Magdalena. In 1783 he was appointed chargé d'affaires to the Court of France, and in 1785 he was named Ambassador to France...
. 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.
Count von Fersen was instrumental in the writing of the Brunswick Manifesto.
He had the leading role in the royal family's flight to Varennes
Flight to Varennes
The Flight to Varennes was a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution...
. 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 at his own home on the Rue Matignon, so that all Paris might get accustomed to the sight of it. He was the coachman of the fiacre
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
which drove the royal family from the Place du Carrousel
Place du Carrousel
The Place du Carrousel is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre museum, a space occupied, prior to 1871, by the Tuileries Palace...
to the Porte Saint-Martin
Porte Saint-Martin
The Porte Saint-Martin is a Parisian monument located at the site of one of the gates of the now-destroyed fortifications of Paris. It is located at the crossing of Rue Saint-Martin, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin and the grands boulevards Boulevard Saint-Martin and Boulevard Saint-Denis.- History...
, where the carriage awaited them. He accompanied them as far as Bondy
Bondy
Bondy is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Name:The name Bondy was recorded for the first time around AD 600 as Bonitiacum, meaning "estate of Bonitius", a Gallo-Roman landowner.-History:...
, the first stage of their journey.
Politics
In August 1791, Fersen was sent to ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
to induce the emperor Leopold
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
to accede to a new coalition against revolutionary France, but he soon came to the conclusion that the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n court meant to do nothing at all. At his own request, therefore, he was transferred to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, where he could be of more service to the queen of France. Before he left, he followed the imperial court to Prague for Leopold's coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
as king of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
on 6 September. According to an account of the coronation published in Alexander von Kleist's Fantasien auf einer Reise nach Prag (1792), Fersen was present at a performance of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
given at the Estates Theatre
Estates Theatre
The Estates Theatre or Stavovské divadlo is a historic theatre in Prague, Czech Republic. The Estates Theatre was annexed to the National Theatre in 1948 and currently draws on three artistic ensembles, opera, ballet, and drama, which perform at the Estates Theatre, the National Theatre , and the...
on September 2. Kleist recorded that Fersen made a spectacle of himself trying to arrange romantic liaisons among the female audience members and noted how ostentatiously he displayed the French royalist white cockade.
In February 1792, at his own mortal peril, Fersen once more succeeded in reaching Paris in disguise and with counterfeit credentials as minister plenipotentiary to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. On the 13th he arrived, and the same evening contrived to steal an interview with the queen in the Tuilleries Palace itself, 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 until 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. There followed some years of relative inactivity after Gustav III's assassination in 1792 and the execution of the French King and Queen in 1793. In 1797 Fersen was sent to the Second Congress of Rastatt
Second Congress of Rastatt
The Second Congress of Rastatt, which was opened in December 1797, was intended to rearrange the map of Germany by providing compensation for those princes whose lands on the left bank of the Rhine had been seized by France....
as the Swedish delegate, but in consequence of a protest from the French government, was not permitted to take part in it.
During this congress it is told that Napoléon simply called him Monsieur, neglecting the fact that he was an appointed ambassador, a count, and one of the Lords of the Realm of Sweden (en av Rikets Herrar). Napoléon declared that he would never discuss anything with a person who had had an affair with the widow Capet (Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
). Fersen thereupon served the following two years as Sweden's envoy to the court of Baden.
During the regency of the Duke Charles of Södermanland
Charles XIII of Sweden
Charles XIII & II also Carl, , was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 until his death...
(1792–1796) Fersen, like other prominent Gustavians, or loyal supporters of the late Gustav III, was in disgrace. When Gustav IV Adolf
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden also Gustav Adolph was King of Sweden from 1792 until his abdication in 1809. He was the son of Gustav III of Sweden and his queen consort Sophia Magdalena, eldest daughter of Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain. He was the last Swedish...
attained his majority in 1796, Fersen was welcomed back to court. In 1799 he was made chancellor of Uppsala University to suppress radical student unrest and in 1801 was appointed Riksmarskalk, or Marshal of the Realm. On the outbreak of the war of the Third Coalition with Napoleon in 1805, Fersen accompanied Gustav IV Adolf to Germany as his political advisor. He prevented Gustav Adolf from attacking Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
when it declined to join the war against France. During the rest of Gustav IV Adolf's reign Fersen was therefore in semi-disgrace, though he continued to serve in Sweden's interim governments when the king was abroad.
Death of Prince Carl August
Fersen stood aloof from the revolution of 1809 that deposed Gustav IV Adolf. His sympathies lay with Prince Gustav of Vasa, son of the deposed monarch, and he was believed to desire the prince's legitimate succession to the throne. The RiksdagRiksdag of the Estates
The Riksdag of the Estates , was the name used for the Estates of the Swedish realm when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King...
, or parliament, however elected as successor the highly popular Danish prince Carl August of Augustenburg. When the new crown prince suddenly died in Skåne in May 1810, the rumor spread that he had been poisoned, and that Fersen and his sister, the countess Sophie Piper
Sophie Piper
Eva Sophie Piper , née Sophie von Fersen, was a Swedish noble and lady in waiting. She was the daughter of Axel von Fersen the Elder and Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie and the sister of Axel von Fersen the Younger and Hedvig Eleonora von Fersen...
, were accessories. The source of these accusations has never been discovered. But it was eagerly taken up by the anti-Gustavian press, and popular suspicion was especially aroused by a fable called 'The Foxes' directed against the Fersens, which appeared in the radical newspaper Nya Posten.
When on 20 June 1810, the prince's body was conveyed to Stockholm, Fersen, as Marshal of the Realm, received it at the barrier and led the funeral cortege into the city. His fine carriage and splendid dress seemed to spectators an open derision of the general grief. The crowd began to murmur and presently to throw stones and cry "murderer!" He was forced to seek refuge in a house near the Riddarhus Square
Riddarhustorget
Riddarhustorget is, arguably, a public square in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden, named after its location in front of House of Knights ....
, but the mob rushed after him, brutally maltreated him, tearing his clothes to pieces. At this time the Royal Life Guards
Life Guards (Swedish Army)
The Life Guards is a combined cavalry/infantry regiment of the Swedish Army, with responsibility for training. The infantry battalion trains ordinary infantry soldiers in both the mechanized and rifle roles, as well as training clerical soldiers. The Guards Battalion consists of three companies,...
standing in formation on the square attempted to protect Fersen, but the commanding officer gave the order "För fot gevär!" (English: Attention! Rifles by the foot).
To quiet the people and save the unhappy victim, two officers volunteered to conduct him to the court house and there place him under arrest. But he had no sooner been taken there than the crowd, which had followed him all the way beating him with sticks and umbrellas, broke in, dragged him out, and kicked and trampled him to death. The riot, which lasted more than an hour, happened in the presence of numerous troops, who were forbidden to rescue the Marshal of the Realm from his tormentors. Later that evening the troops fired on the rioters, killing and wounding several of them.
Fersen's contemporary, Baron Gustaf Armfelt
Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt
Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt was a Finnish and Swedish courtier and diplomat. In Finland, he is considered one of the great Finnish statesmen. Born in Tarvasjoki, Finland, he was the great grandson of Charles XII of Sweden's general, Carl Gustaf Armfeldt...
, stated "One is almost tempted to say that the government wanted to give the people a victim to play with, just as when one throws something to an irritated wild beast to distract its attention. The more I consider it all, the more I am certain that the mob had the least to do with it. . . . But in God's name what were the troops about? How could such a thing happen in broad daylight during a procession, when troops and a military escort were actually present?"
Aftermath
Axel von Fersen died that day in Stockholm as formally Sweden’s highest ranking official next to the King. His death sent shockwaves throughout the country. The cause of death was determined to be "crushing of the ribcage" when the sailor Otto Johan Tandefelt jumped with both feet on Fersen's chest.A few months after the murder Axel von Fersen and his family were cleared of any suspicion connected with the death of Carl August of Augustenburg
Charles August, Crown Prince of Sweden
Charles August was a German prince. He is best known for serving as Crown Prince of Sweden briefly in 1810, adopted by Charles XIII, before his sudden death from stroke. Earlier, he had been a general in the Royal Danish Army as well as the Danish Governor-general of Norway...
, and he finally received a state burial with all pomp and ceremony. His sister Sophie Piper
Sophie Piper
Eva Sophie Piper , née Sophie von Fersen, was a Swedish noble and lady in waiting. She was the daughter of Axel von Fersen the Elder and Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie and the sister of Axel von Fersen the Younger and Hedvig Eleonora von Fersen...
thereafter withdrew from Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
to her Löfstad manor
Löfstad Castle
Löfstad Castle is a château situated near Norrköping, the province of Östergötland, in Sweden. Löfstad has its origins from the 15th century, but the present building was erected by Axel Lillie in the 17th century...
, near Norrköping
Norrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...
. Here she raised a memorial to her brother, with the inscription:
Åt en oförgätlig broder, mannamodet uti hans sista stunder den 20 juni 1810 vittna om hans dygder och sinnes lugn (To an unforgettable brother, the courage in his last moments on the 20th of June 1810, bears testimony to his virtues and clean conscience)
Portrayal in popular culture
- In 1938, von Fersen was portrayed by Tyrone PowerTyrone PowerTyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
in the film Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette (1938 film)Marie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette...
, opposite Norma ShearerNorma ShearerEdith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...
as Marie Antoinette. - Von Fersen is a major character in the 1973 shoujo manga The Rose of VersaillesThe Rose of Versailles, also known as Lady Oscar or La Rose de Versailles, is one of the best-known titles in shōjo manga and a media franchise created by Riyoko Ikeda. It has been adapted into several Takarazuka Revue musicals, as well an anime television series, produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and broadcast by the...
by Riyoko IkedaRiyoko Ikedais a Japanese manga artist and singer. She is included in the Year 24 Group. She was one of the most popular Japanese comic artists in the 1970s, being best known for The Rose of Versailles.- Biography :...
, as well as in the anime of the same name. - In 2006, von Fersen was portrayed by Jamie Dornan in the film Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette (2006 film)Marie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen consort in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design...
.