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Chapter Thirteen...
The royal family attempts escape.
One June night in 1791, after more than a year-and-a-half under virtual house arrest in the Tuileries Palace, King Louis XVI and his family dressed up as servants and stole away, one by one, under cover of night. Together in a large green and black carriage, fitted with a white velvet interior, food enough, a retractable table and other conveniences of home, they headed north-east to France’s border with the Austrian Empire. Waiting to help them just outside France were troops assembled by the queen’s brother, King Leopold II of Austria, as well as the King of Prussia.
But things went terribly wrong. They were delayed en route and so missed the escorts that were arranged to accompany them to the border. When the sun rose over the Tuilieries Palace, the royal family was discovered missing. Word quickly reached us in the provinces that the king and his family were on the run. National Guardsmen were dispatched in all directions to find them.
I prayed for their safe escape. But a small town postmaster near the border of the Austrian Empire recognized the king when he briefly put his head out of the carriage. Despite his disguise, the king was easily recognizable for his profile was printed on all French coins.
The postmaster rode on ahead to the next town, Varenne. When the king and his family arrived there, the National Guard was waiting to arrest them. The Guard escorted the king and his family back to Paris and placed them under strict house arrest once again. So frightened was the queen that hair had turned completely white upon their return.
Chapter Fourteen...
The Revolutionaries break apart.
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Images:
Unknown. Louis XVI Stopt [sic] in his Flight at Varennes, 18th c. Crédit photographique: Musée de la Révolution Françaises, Vizille, France, http://www.domaine-vizille.fr, Inv. MRF 1984-22.
Chevais, Jennifer. Drawing of French Coin from 1792. Created for Time Traveler Tours © 2010.