Marie Antoinette

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Count Hans Axel Fersen was born in 1755 and died in 1810. Count Axel Fersen was a Swedish soldier and diplomat. Count Axel Fersen was a nobleman and son of Count Fredrik Axel Fersen.

Count Hans Axel Fersen entered (1779) the French service, was aide-de-camp of comte de Rochambeau in the American Revolution. Count Hans Axel Fersen later at the court of Versailles became a favorite of Marie Antoinette. There were rumors of the love affair of Marie Antoinette & Axel von Fersen. Count Hans Axel Fersen was recalled (1784) to Sweden, but returned to Paris on the eve of the French Revolution.

In 1791 Count Hans Axel Fersen helped the marquis de Bouill plan the flight of Louis XVI and Marie Antionette, and Count Hans Axel Fersen himself drove their coach outside the city limits, but the king and queen were arrested at Varennes. Count Hans Axel Fersen later held diplomatic posts at Vienna and Brussels and in 1801 was made marshal of Sweden by Gustavus IV, whom Count Hans Axel Fersen accompanied to Germany in the Napoleonic Wars.

After the Swedish revolution of 1809 that forced Gustavus IV to abdicate, Count Hans Axel Fersen was accused by popular rumor of reactionary intrigues and was killed by a mob.

Count Axel Fersen