Axel count Fersen, Swedish count and officer, 1755-1810

Von Fersen secured the position of aide-de-camp to General Rochambeau in the American Revolutionary War. He was a favorite of the French court and a friend of Queen Marie-Antoinette. He joined King Gustav III for the latter's Finnish campaign against Russia. In course of the French Revolution and with the situation of the royal family becoming more desperate, von Fersen organized their flight to Varennes. Back in Sweden, he was appointed Marshal of the Realm (1801). After the sudden death of Crown Prince Charles August, von Fersen formed, with others court dignitaries, the advance guard in the procession for the public funeral. He died that day in Stockholm at the hands of a lynch mob.