Marie-Antoinette and Axel Fersen
A Romantic Friendship
Nesta Webster, who wrote a biography of Marie Antoinette tried to put this theory to rest, but other biographers, such as Evelyn Lever, think that Fersen and Marie-Antoinette did have an affair.
The son of Count von Fersen the Elder and the Countess De La Gardie, Fersen was born into the Swedish nobility. After being educated in Turin and Strasbourg, he distinguished himself by fighting for the French. He went to America as General Rochambeau’s adjutant where he distinguished himself at the siege of Yorktown in 1781. He became proprietary colonel of the Royal Swedish regiment in France.
Fersen and Marie Antoinette
Fersen and Marie Antoinette met at a masked ball in France when they were both very young. She was still the Dauphine or French Crown Princess. The Dauphine found the tall, handsome man very attractive. Years later she remembered him and introduced him to the whole Court as an ‘old acquaintance’.
Fersen became the envoy of the Swedish King in France and became very good friends with the royal family. They saw each other at Court functions, played cards together, and Fersen became part of the Queen’s circle at the Petit Trianon. Here she escaped from her many problems, including court intrigues and vicious propaganda, by holding concerts, dances and plays, for her friends. Unfortunately, she was linked romantically with some of the men whom she met at the Trianon so her escape did not help. Fersen was not associated with Marie Antoinette in these rumors, perhaps because he had to spend years away doing military service and fulfilling his duties to the Swedish King.
Fersen and Eleanore Sullivan
Fersen had a mistress during the years that he was friendly with the Queen. This was the beautiful Italian adventuress, Eleanor Sullivan, who was a ‘kept woman’. The owner of the house that Sullivan lived in in Paris was a Scottish millionaire called Crawford. According to Vincent Cronin, a biographer of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, Crawford ‘kept her in diamonds.’ She and Fersen met in her attic hideaway in this house.
The Swedish count was also linked with many other women, including Elizabeth Foster, an English aristocrat.
Marie-Antoinette’s Attempted Escape
After the French Revolution Fersen helped the royal family escape to Varennes, disguised as a coachman, He drove the carriage on the first leg of their journey. Unfortunately, the family was caught and dragged back to Paris, where they were imprisoned in the Tuileries. The King and Queen awaited trial by the revolutionaries.
The Romance of Marie Antoinette and Axel Fersen
There is no doubt that Marie Antoinette and Fersen were very attracted to each other. She wrote to him that: “I can tell you that I love you,” and he wrote to his sister that he could not marry because the woman who he wanted to marry was unavailable and called Marie Antoinette ‘perfect’. Some historians, such as Vincent Cronin and Antonia Fraser, suggest that they probably did become lovers at the Tuileries Palace. There is little evidence for this, however. Fersen wrote a French phrase in his diary after their meeting which was his usual phrase for sleeping with a lady. This phrase is apparently smudged so it really provides little evidence for the theory.
Fersen’s Death
Fersen supported the Swedish King Gustavus IV who was overthrown in a revolution of 1809. When the popular choice for King, Christian August, was poisoned and died, Fersen was believed by many to be responsible. He was murdered horribly by an angry mob in 1810.
Sources:
Cronin, Vincent, Louis and Antoinette. Collins, London, 1974.
Covington, Richard, Marie Antoinette, Smithsonian magazine, November, 2006
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