The Royal Family Attempts to Escape, June 20, 1791
The royal family was obliged to return to Paris after the Women's March on Versailles. Louis XVI tried to act within his limited powers, but he received little support. In the Tuileries, a royal and imperial palace in Paris that served as the abode of most French monarchs, he and the royal family remained virtual captives. The palace remained the king's formal residence for the next two years.
Louis XVI became emotionally paralyzed, allowing the queen to make the most critical decisions. On June 21, 1791, Louis, prompted by the queen, led his family on a disastrous escape attempt from the capital to the eastern frontier. The royal family attempts to escape from the Tuileries around midnight, with the dauphin's governess, the Marquise de Tourzel, posing as a Russian baroness, the queen posing as a governess, the king's sister, Madame Élisabeth, posing as a nurse, the king posing as a valet, and the royal children posing as the alleged baroness' daughters. The queen's favorite, the Swedish Count Axel von Fersenand and the Baron de Breteuil, orchestrated the escape with the help of Swedish King Gustavus III. Fersen had advocated for the employment of two light carriages, which would have sped up the 200-mile trip to Montmédy.
The royal family's flight was stopped after Jean-Baptiste Drouet, the postmaster of Sainte-Menehould, recognized the king from his portrait, owing to the cumulative effect of a series of blunders that, in and of itself, would not have resulted in the mission's failure. The monarch and his family were apprehended 31 miles from their final goal, the heavily guarded royalist castle of Montmédy, in the town of Varennes.
Dates: June 20, 1791
