Descent and early life Axel von Fersen was born in 1755 to
Field Marshal Axel von Fersen the Elder and countess
Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie. He was nephew of
Eva Ekeblad and grandson of General
Hans Reinhold Fersen. Axel was the second of four children; he had two sisters,
Hedvig Eleonora and
Eva Sophie, and one brother,
Fabian Reinhold. Two female cousins,
Ulrika von Fersen and
Christina Augusta von Fersen, were Swedish ladies-in-waiting and leading socialites of the
Gustavian age. Von Fersen's ancestors came from Estonia to Sweden at the time of the
Thirty Years' War, which took place from 1618 to 1648. The
family made their name during the reigns of
Christina (queen regnant),
Charles X Gustav, and
Charles XI. In 1735, the von Fersen family purchased
Steninge Palace, which overlooks
Mälaren, a lake outside
Stockholm. Von Fersen's father, the de facto parliamentary leader of the
Hats party, was the most politically influential man in Sweden at that time and also one of the richest in the realm. The younger Axel was influenced by French culture, owing in part to his father's services to
Louis XV. Under his childhood tutor, von Fersen learned several languages including French, Latin, English, German and Italian. His later education was primarily military.
The grand tour (1771–1775) On 3 July 1770, von Fersen made his first journey abroad with the intention of seeing the world and finishing his studies at military academies, including
Brunswick,
Turin,
Strasbourg and
Lüneburg. In October 1771, he passed through Switzerland and in
Ferney, he met the philosopher,
Voltaire. In November 1772, von Fersen continued on to
Turin, Italy, where he paid a visit to King
Charles Emmanuel III. In January 1774 his travels took him to France where he paid court to the reigning monarch,
Louis XV, and his mistress,
Madame du Barry. While at
Versailles he attended the ceremony of the
Order of the Holy Spirit. A little over a week later, von Fersen met
Marie Antoinette, then
Dauphine, for the first time: Von Fersen allegedly replaced his father in 1774 as the lover of
Ewa Löwen. Von Fersen continued the Grand Tour by travelling to
England where he stayed for roughly four months and met King
George III and
Queen Charlotte. By the beginning of 1775, von Fersen had returned to Sweden, where he remained for approximately three years, serving under his king,
Gustavus III.
Marie Antoinette In the late summer of 1778, von Fersen traveled to Normandy with his friend, the
Baron de Stedingk, to see a large army camp that was training under the command of the
Duke of Broglie. Besides military matters, they were treated to dinner and dances attended by the officers and their wives. Von Fersen later paid his respects to the French royal family for the first time since his grand tour more than three years earlier: Marie Antoinette's personal property, the
Petit Trianon, was on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. In contrast to Versailles, the dress and manners at the Petit Trianon were simple and down-to-earth; her guests were personally invited and treated equally, as friends. However, the private festivities often caused jealousy among those who were excluded from them.
The American Revolutionary War In the 1770s, the
American Revolutionary War began. France had officially declared war against her "natural enemy" (Great Britain) in February 1778, but it wasn't until 1780 that French troops were sent to America. Von Fersen secured the position of
aide-de-camp to
General Rochambeau, commander of the expedition. On 4 May 1780, they sailed from
Brest. Nearly two months later, the French landed at
Narragansett Bay in
Newport, Rhode Island, and made camp until June of the next year. In mid-September 1780, von Fersen accompanied Rochambeau to meet the American General
George Washington in
Hartford, Connecticut. On meeting Washington, von Fersen remarked: After spending 11 months in Newport in total inaction, Rochambeau began a march on 12 June 1781, to link up with Washington's army at Philipsburg on the
Hudson. On 15 August, von Fersen was tasked with conveying a letter from Rochambeau to
Comte de Barras, who had been waiting for a signal to join
Comte de Grasse's fleet on
Chesapeake Bay. In early September,
de Grasse defeated the British fleet in the Chesapeake, and by the end of the month Washington
surrounded Cornwallis in Yorktown. On 19 October, the British surrendered, hastening the end of the war. Von Fersen spent the winter in
Williamsburg with the French army. Anticipating the
American Civil War nearly 80 years later, von Fersen remarked that he wouldn't be surprised to see Virginia separate herself from the rest of the states at some point due to the strain of "aristocracy" prevalent there as opposed to the northern states. In December 1782, the French made sail for the West Indies and
Venezuela, but word reached them of the signing of peace and the ships headed back to France. Von Fersen arrived back in France in June 1783.
Years leading up to the Revolution (1783–1787) Following the end of hostilities, the United States and Sweden concluded a
Treaty of Amity and Commerce. Von Fersen was awarded the
Order of Cincinnatus by Washington, though he was forbidden by his monarch to wear a medallion earned fighting in a republican war. In 1783, Gustavus III asked von Fersen to join him in Germany as
Captain of the Guard. Gustavus was planning on making war on Denmark, and was on a trip through the Continent to secure aid from other countries. Gustavus promoted von Fersen to titulary-colonel in the Swedish army, chevalier of the
Order of the Sword, and lieutenant-colonel of the light-horse cavalry of the King. Gustavus also used his influence to persuade Louis to have von Fersen appointed
proprietary colonel of the
Royal Suédois French Army infantry regiment. Von Fersen was secretly entrusted, by Gustavus III, with the role of special envoy to the King and Queen of France. Some sensitive diplomatic contacts between Sweden and France were conducted, not through the Swedish embassy, but through von Fersen. To be closer to Paris, he moved into a house in
Auteuil borrowed from Count Esterhazy. In spring, 1788, von Fersen joined Gustav for the latter's
Finnish campaign against Russia as lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Horse Guards, but by December 1788, von Fersen was again with his French regiment in Valenciennes to witness the following: On 2 May 1789, the
Estates-General finally met. Von Fersen and Beaumont sat in one of the boxes of the
Salle des Menus Plaisirs on 5 May, as Louis read his opening speech. Before long, however, the Third Estate reconstituted itself as the
National Assembly, arguing that the three orders were no more than arbitrary divisions of one body. By the end of June, the monarchy had reinforced its concentration of regiments around the capital, ostensibly to maintain order in and around Paris, although many believed the troops would be turned against the recalcitrant Third Estate. Von Fersen wrote: On 14 July 1789, the
Invalides and the Bastille were both stormed and taken, and on 16 July, von Fersen was at Versailles with the King and Queen to debate how to forestall the incipient revolution in Paris. After much discussion, Louis decided to go to Paris with the guardsmen to show his personal goodwill towards the revolution. The
Princess de Lamballe (who in 1792 would lose her life in the
September Massacres) related the scene: Von Fersen followed Louis to the capital and arrived in time to watch Louis take the national
cockade from the mayor,
Jean Sylvain Bailly, and placed it in his own hat. On 8 August, the
August Decrees, which abolished many aspects of monarchy, including tithes and hereditary titles, were enacted. Von Fersen wrote from
Valenciennes: Months later, with the revolution spreading to the rest of the country and the royal army in disintegration, the Flanders Regiment was brought to Versailles to replace the
French Guards who had mutinied. The
King's bodyguard decided to host a fraternal dinner party for the regiment, and von Fersen and Beaumont attended. Despite having reservations at first, the King and Queen made an appearance towards the end. This banquet, however, provided fuel for the
Women's March on Versailles four days later, when it was rumored that the tricolour (cockade) was trampled upon at the banquet. Von Fersen was in Versailles to witness the march. On the morning of 6 October 1789, an armed crowd made their way to the royal apartments. Two of the royal bodyguards were killed before the
National Guard restored order. In order to calm the protestors, Louis agreed to go to the balcony of the Cour de Marbre and tell the crowd that he would return with them to Paris. Von Fersen recounts the departure in his diaries:
Flight to Varennes The situation of the royal family became considerably more desperate on 18 April 1791, when they were prevented from travelling to
Saint-Cloud to attend Mass by a large hostile crowd. Escape plans had been broached earlier between
Comte de Mirabeau and von Fersen, but Mirabeau's death on 2 April 1791 put an end to that discussion. Following the aborted trip to
Saint Cloud, von Fersen revived these plans with vigor. In June, he acquired a
Berline and drove it to a courtyard at
Eleanore Sullivan's residence on the
Rue de Clichy in Paris. The escape was arranged to take place on 20 June, coinciding with a particular guard change. At 11:15 p.m. the royal children were brought out without difficulty. At 11:45, the king's sister, Madame Elizabeth, appeared, followed by Louis himself. Half an hour later they were still waiting for Marie Antoinette. However, she came out at the same time as the torchlit carriage of
Marquis de Lafayette, who was responsible for the royal family's custody, appeared with some of his men. Marie Antoinette was able to conceal herself and the royal family slipped away. Von Fersen drove the carriage, first from the
Place du Carrousel to the
Porte Saint-Martin, and then on to the Barrier Saint-Martin where they switched to the Berline. Von Fersen continued to drive as far as
Bondy, seven miles from Paris, where the Queen's maids and a fresh relay of horses awaited them. The royal family took the post road and von Fersen took a different route to
Bourget. The royal family reached
Varennes on 22 June around 11 p.m., but here they were discovered and eventually held in custody until troops from the National Convention arrived. They departed Varennes surrounded by 6,000 armed citizens and National Guardsmen. Having left behind him a long declaration which had been read and published in all the newspapers in his absence, Louis himself had made it impossible to sustain the pretence that he had been "abducted".
War against France (1791–1793) Even before the royal family returned to Paris, it was discovered that von Fersen was one of the people who facilitated their escape, and a warrant was put out for his arrest. Von Fersen left France and in
Koblenz he put himself in touch with
Comte d'Artois, the exiled prince, and
Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the former Controller-General; together they made plans to convince the other European powers to declare war on France. In Brussels, von Fersen worked out a
steganography technique for writing with Marie Antoinette. From 2–14 August, von Fersen was in
Vienna to discuss the situation with Marie Antoinette's brother
Leopold, now Emperor. On 27 August 1791 the
Declaration of Pillnitz was issued from
Pillnitz Castle near
Dresden; it declared the joint support of the
Holy Roman Empire and
Prussia for King Louis XVI against the Revolution but stipulated that Austria would only go to war if the other European powers followed them into war, which at this point in time was not likely to happen. Von Fersen wrote: On 16 March 1792, Gustav III was shot at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, and died almost two weeks later. In Sweden, Gustav's younger brother, the
Duke Karl, became regent to the underage
Gustav IV. On 20 April, France officially declared war on Austria, and invaded the
Austrian Netherlands. On 20 June, the Tuileries was stormed by a large crowd and Louis was made to wear a red bonnet of liberty and drink a toast to the health of the people of Paris and the Nation. Three days later Marie-Antoinette was able to get an encrypted letter out to von Fersen: "Your friend is in the greatest danger. His illness is making terrible progress ... Tell his relations about his unfortunate situation". On 7 November, following the
French victory at Jemappes, von Fersen wrote from
Brussels: On 21 January 1793, Louis XVI was guillotined at the Place de la Révolution. Von Fersen heard the news while in Cologne: "Received last night at 10:30, from the Archbishop of
Tours, the sad details of the death of the King of France". On 1 February, France officially declared war against Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, but the tide quickly turned against the French in the
Netherlands. The general in charge of the northern army,
Dumouriez, was defeated 18 March at
Neerwinden and
Louvain. On 18 March, von Fersen was able to meet with him: On 2 August, Marie Antoinette was moved to the
Conciergerie while awaiting her trial. During this time von Fersen was still attempting to find a way to save her and the remaining royal family. On 11 August he wrote: On 6 October 1793, von Fersen paid a visit to
Jean-Baptiste Drouet at the Saint-Elizabeth prison on the slim hope of hearing news that might be of use. Drouet was the postmaster who recognised Louis on his flight to Varennes and was able to alert the authorities in time to stop them. Marie Antoinette was executed 10 days later. Von Fersen heard the news of this while in Brussels:
Later years (1793–1810) , miniature from 1798 by
Niklas Lafrensen. Von Fersen returned to Sweden in 1791. In the following years, he observed the ever-increasing expansion of the
French revolutionary empire. In late December 1793, he was suspected of possible complicity in
Baron Armfeldt's conspiracy to deprive the
Duke of Södermanland of the regency. As a result, von Fersen was deprived of his diplomatic appointments and his post as ambassador. In November 1796, Prince Gustav was declared of age and become King
Gustav IV Adolf. His accession restored von Fersen and other supporters of Gustav III to favour at court. Von Fersen and his best friend, Baron Taube, became two of the most influential advisers to the young king, inculcating in him a "steadfast opposition to Revolutionary France, close relations with Russia, and hostility to Denmark, with the ultimate objective of acquiring Norway". In November 1797, von Fersen attended the
Second Congress of Rastatt and met general
Napoleon Bonaparte. While in Germany, von Fersen made a trip to
Karlsruhe to secure, for Gustav IV Adolf, the hand of the Princess Friederike of Baden, whom Gustav IV Adolf married in October. In 1799, following von Fersen's return to Sweden from Germany, he was appointed as one of the
Lords of the Realm. In the autumn of that year, Gustav IV Adolf became concerned about sympathy for the French Revolution in the city of
Uppsala. After students at
Uppsala University celebrated Bonaparte's return to France from his
Italian campaigns, Gustav IV Adolf appointed von Fersen as Chancellor of the university. According to Adlerbeth, this amounted to "a declared French royalist being made the Swedish Jacobins' schoolmaster". That winter a wave of rioting occurred in Stockholm,
Gothenburg,
Norrköping,
Linköping,
Malmö, and other Swedish towns following the onset of a severe winter and famine. Von Fersen wrote: "Who, given the spirit that now prevails, can guarantee that there will not be a general upheaval?" In April, an attempt to trick the Uppsala orchestra into performing a composition containing an excerpt from the "
Marseillaise" led to the trial and punishment of four known university radicals, one of whom was dismissed. The "Music Trial" proved the deathblow to Uppsala radicalism. With the government nearly bankrupt, and poor harvests and declining trade undermining his efforts to resolve the issue without recourse to parliament, Gustav IV Adolf reluctantly announced the first assembly of the
Riksdag. The Riksdag dissolved in mid-June but not before several prominent aristocrats walked out and renounced their noble status. Though creating a much-talked about sensation, they had virtually left a vacuum in the political field which their rivals filled. In 1801, von Fersen was appointed Marshal of the Realm. He was now the highest official in the court of Sweden. Around this time, von Fersen's sister, Sophie, returned to Sweden from Germany and took over his household in lieu of a wife.
Swedish politics and death Following the overthrow and exile of King Gustavus IV in 1809, a dispute over the royal succession divided the nobility and much of Swedish society. Von Fersen, now Earl Marshal of Sweden, was a prominent member of a political faction ("the
Gustavians") which supported Gustavus' son against the popular
Crown Prince Charles August. The procession proceeded slowly through the Hornsgatan and
Södermalm Square, and was met with threats and insults directed at von Fersen as soon as it entered the city. Von Fersen, with a violent effort, flung back one of the assailants who grasped him and shook himself free of the others who were pressing round. There was a momentary lull, and the curses shrank from shouts to mutterings. Von Fersen's face bled where a stone had cut it, his decorations glittering in the sun. The guards, who were supposed to protect him, gazed at him with a sort of curious expectancy. It was at this moment when General Silfversparre arrived on the scene and a small detachment of troops. This intervention further enraged the large crowd. Von Fersen, realising that the authorities planned to do nothing, turned and dashed into the first door he could find. The crowd converged on this spot, and a few ran into the house in pursuit of him. Before long, one man appeared at the window "and with a triumphant shout" hurled down von Fersen's cloak and sword, which were seized by the angry crowd. Von Fersen was dragged back out into the square. His gloves were pulled off and thrown in his face, and his coat torn off and trampled upon. Silfversparre, attempting to save von Fersen, offered to arrest him and have him tried in court for the Crown Prince's murder. At this moment, the mounted escort turned and rode away. Von Fersen succumbed on the scene. Von Fersen's contemporary, Baron
Gustaf Armfelt, stated afterward: Axel von Fersen died that day in Stockholm as 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 Swedish-Finn
Otto Johan Tandefelt jumped with both feet on von Fersen's chest. ==Aftermath==