Axel Fersen, count, a Swedish soldier, born in Stockholm about 1750, killed June 20, 1810. He was educated at the military academy of Turin, and entered the Swedish army, but afterward went to Versailles, and was made colonel of the royal regiment of Swedes, the body guard of Louis XVI. He served in the| American revolutionary war with distinction, and was aide-de-camp of Rochambeau at York-town. Upon his return to France he became a devoted adherent of the Bourbons, and Marie Antoinette especially distinguished him. In the flight to Varennes Fersen was the disguised coachman of the royal fugitives. After their , capture he escaped, and was employed by Gus- tavus III. in furthering the project of reinstating the Bourbon dynasty in France. Toward the " end of his life he became the favorite of Charles XIII., and his sister enjoyed in an equal degree the favor of the queen; but both were unpop- ular with the people. Fersen was made grand marshal of the kingdom; but the sudden death of the crown prince, Christian Augustus of Augustenburg, gave rise to suspicion that Fersen had poisoned him. A tumult occurred at the funeral, and while the troops looked on with indiflerence, the mob killed Fersen with sticks and stones in the great square of the Riddarhus in Stockholm. His sister escaped in disguise.

It is now universally acknowledged that Fersen was guiltless.