von Fersen, Hans Axel ___ 1755-1810 ___ Swedish ___ soldier diplomat

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Von Fersen was born into a rich and powerful family - his father Frederik was a leading Swedish politician - and was well educated. At 15, he went abroad on a tour lasting four years. During this period he attended the Brunswick Military Academy and the University of Turin, and while in Paris he met Marie Antoinette. He joined the French army and went to fight with the colonists in the US during the War of Independence, distinguishing himself at the Siege of Yorktown. On returning to Paris as a diplomat, his friendship with Marie Antoinette flourished. When the Revolution broke out, he tried - but failed - to organise for the King and Queen to escape. Later, Fersen also served in Vienna and Brussels for a European coalition against the Revolution. After Marie Antoinette's death, he returned to Sweden. When King Gustav IV was overthrown in the 1809 revolution, von Fersen supported the king's son rather than the populist Christian August. The latter died suddenly in 1810, and it was rumoured that Fersen had conspired in the murder, and this led to an unruly mob seeking revenge and killing him.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - For the love of Marie

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1771-1778 1792-1793 ___ love/sex military political people historyeye royalty

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
one page (in French)
several pages

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Rescue the Queen: A Diary of the French Revolution 1789-1793
Diary and Correspondence of Count Axel Fersen Grand-Marshal of Sweden

May 2005, August 2008, June 2010, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.

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