The Queen’s Lover Read online

  “I must let Your Majesty know that the young Count von Fersen was held in such high esteem by the queen that a few at court were made uneasy by the evidence of her regard for him. I confess that I myself saw too much clear proof of her penchant for the count to doubt it. Young Count von Fersen’s conduct in this case was admirable for its modesty and moderation, as displayed by his decision to go to America. By taking his distance he prevents all danger. Truly, to surmount temptations in this manner takes a strength of character far beyond his years. During his last days at court the queen could barely take her eyes off him, and grew tearful each time she spoke to him.”

  Count Creutz is very accurate in his esteem for my brother’s conduct. Axel was as prudent and discreet in his relations with the queen as he had been with the young Duchess of Södermanland, and the various other women who had been enamored of him. It is his ambition, I believe, as much as his delicacy of character, that has always led him to scrupulously avoid the least taint of scandal. Upon learning that Axel was leaving for America, one of the queen’s more impolitic ladies-in-waiting, the Duchesse de Fitz-James, had the effrontery to address him thus: “Well, sir, is this the way you abandon your conquest?” His reply was a model of tact. “If I had made one, I would not abandon it,” he answered. “I leave as a free man, and, unfortunately, without any regrets.” Indeed, I do believe that his enthusiasm for joining the war prevailed over any chagrin that his separation from the queen might have caused him.

  And so it was with joy in his heart that in April of 1780 Axel left for Brest, Brittany, to join the very general under whom he had yearned to serve in America, Comte de Rochambeau, a hero of the Seven Years’ War. In part because of his excellent command of English, Axel was given the post of Rochambeau’s first aide-de-camp. The ship they sailed on was the Jason, on which he had managed to get a private cabin where he would spend most of his days reading while at sea.

  Axel wished to spare our parents any worries he could possibly cause them. This led him to be an excellent correspondent. He wrote Père dutifully every few weeks, whenever he could take time off from his military duties. These missives from America are documents very treasured by our family, and it is a joy to share some excerpts of them.

  Brest, April 4, 1780

  My dear Father…Our embarkation is getting on; the artillery, ammunition, and commissariat are already on board, and we shall be busy now with the troops. The first regiment arrives today, and all will be embarked by the 8th. M. de Rochambeau wants to be in the harbor by the 10th so as to set sail the 12th or 13th. I’m so happy I don’t know what to do with myself, but my joy will not be perfect till we are off Cape Finistère…. We have provisions for four months at sea, and three months ashore.

  August 5, 1780. Newport, in Rhode Island

  May 4, left Brest…June 20, off the Bermudas, met five English vessels and fought them two hours without doing ourselves much damage. We intended to head North and anchor in Chesapeake Bay; but July 4, when we were only thirteen leagues away, we sighted eighteen vessels which we took to be men-of-war; this induced us to change our course and sail for Rhode-Island, where we arrived safely on the evening of the 11th and anchored in the harbor.

  …We wish to join General Washington, who is only 25 miles from New York…. I don’t yet know if this junction can be made…. We’re expecting General [Sir George] Clinton at any moment; he has sailed from New York with 10,000 men; we’re ready to confront him, all dispositions are made. I hope he may come, but I can hardly believe he would commit such a folly.

  I WAS IN STOCKHOLM during the years Axel was in America, bringing up my children and enjoying the company of Evert Taube; and we rushed to whichever of our residences Père was living in—Lövstad, Steninge, Blasieholmen, the latter of which was named after the area of Stockholm it was on—to pore over Axel’s letters and his descriptions of the American Revolutionary War.

  Newport. September 8, 1780

  We have not left our island; we occupy it peacefully, and with the best order, in a very healthy camp…. The strictest discipline is maintained; our men take nothing from the inhabitants without paying them ready money; we have not yet had a single complaint against the troops. Such discipline is admirable and astonishes the inhabitants, who are accustomed to the pillage of the English and even of their own troops.

  …You know Frenchmen, my dear father, and what passes as courtiers, well enough to judge of the despair of our young men of that class, who see themselves obliged to pass the winter tranquilly in Newport far from their mistresses and the pleasures of Paris; no suppers, no theaters, no balls; they are in despair.

  The general [Rochambeau] went to the mainland a week ago. I was the only aide-de-camp who accompanied him. We stayed two days and saw one of the finest regions in the world—well cultivated, inhabitants prosperous, but without luxury or display; their clothes are simple, but good, and their morals have not yet been spoiled by the luxury of Europeans.

  MY BROTHER SENSED THAT America was a country that would be very happy if it could enjoy a long peace, and if the political parties that now divided it did not make it suffer the fate of Poland and so many other republics.

  Newport, September 14, 1780

  I have no interesting or very good news to send you. There are some that are very grievous to us: the defeat of the American General Gates by Lord Cornwallis in South Carolina on the 10th of August. An American, with whom I talked this morning, told me…that much of the militia under General Gates went over to the English at the beginning of the action. If that is true, what reliance can be placed on such troops? A man is much to be pitied for having to command them.

  Newport, October 16, 1780

  My dear Father, I am certain this letter will reach you…. It goes by a frigate that M. de Rochambeau is sending to Europe.

  I went with M. de Rochambeau, about two weeks ago, to Hartford, which is forty leagues from here…. An interview was to take place with General Washington. M. de Rochambeau sent me in advance to announce his arrival, and I had time to see that illustrious, not to say unique, man of our era. His noble and majestic, yet gentle and honest, face agrees perfectly with his moral qualities; he has the air of a hero; he is very aloof, speaks little, but is polite and civil. An air of sadness pervades his whole countenance, and makes him all the more interesting….

  It was on his way back from Hartford that General Washington heard of Benedict Arnold’s treachery. The latter was one of his best generals; he had suffered two gunshot wounds and his conduct had always been excellent. General Clinton had bribed Arnold to deliver up West Point, which he commanded….

  [When] General Washington had arrived at West Point from Hartford he had sent his aides-de-camp to General Arnold to say that he would dine with him…. The aides-de-camp had found Arnold at breakfast with his wife. A moment after they had sat down someone had come and whispered into Arnold’s ear; upon which Arnold rose, spoke in a low voice to his wife, and went out. The words were “Good-bye forever.” Mrs. Arnold fainted. The aides-de-camp succored her without knowing what was happening; but a while later a courier arrived carrying the news of Arnold’s treachery. The traitor was pursued….

  If Arnold’s plan had prevailed and the British had succeeded in seizing West Point, Axel commented, they would have been masters of the whole Hudson River; they could have prevented all communication and junction of the French forces with those of the Americans. And Washington, who was camped between West Point and New York, would have been caught between two fires and would certainly have been destroyed before the French could have assisted him. It might have been all over for America, the French themselves would have suffered the shame of coming here to be mere spectators of their allies’ ruin. Happily, the plot failed….

  Through Axel’s letters to us we also learned much about the great George Washington, including delightful details such as the name of his many dogs (Downey, Pilot, Mopsey, Sweetlips, Drunkard, Vulcan, Jupiter, Trueloose). Axel reported
that a group of his colleagues—de Broglie, Montesquiou—went to see Martha Washington, whom they described as “a nice fat lady with no pretensions.”

  Newport, December 7, 1780

  You see, dear Father, that we are still in Newport; we do not even think of leaving it. We are living tranquilly in winter quarters. Washington’s army went into theirs two weeks ago…. Colonel Ferguson has been defeated by the Americans; his corps of fourteen hundred men was almost destroyed; this has obliged Lord Cornwallis, who commands the English troops in that region, to retire to Charleston with his corps of four thousand men, most of whom are dying of fatigue and of disease….

  Mr. de Rochambeau has just made a little journey of six days on the mainland. I went with him…and we did not see a fine country or pleasant people; they were, as a rule, lazy and selfish; with those attributes, how is it possible to be useful in war?

  As he expresses it in the following letter, my brother did not have a great admiration for the American people for whose independence he was fighting. He found them to be materialistic, self-serving, and unduly obsessed with money. This disappointed many of us; our enthusiasm for the Revolutionary cause had led us to believe that Americans were of fine, idealistic character.

  Newport, January 9, 1781

  The spirit of patriotism exists only in the leaders and more eminent persons of this country, who are making great sacrifices; the others, who are greater in number, think solely of their personal interests. Money is the prime mover of all their actions; they think only of the means to gain it; each citizen is for himself, and few are for the public good. Because the English pay them well, the inhabitants along the coast, even the best Whigs, offer provisions of all kinds to the English fleet, which is anchored in Gardiner’s Bay. They fleece us pitilessly; the price of everything is exorbitant; in all the dealings that we have with them they treat us more like enemies than friends. Their cupidity is unequaled; money is their god; virtue, honor, seem nothing to them compared to the precious metal. I do not mean that there are no estimable people of noble and generous characters—there are many; I speak of the nation in general; I think [their failings] are derived more from the Dutch than from the British.

  We have just received some very sad news concerning the desertion of the Pennsylvania “line”—that is how they call the twenty-five hundred men raised in that State; they went over to the English because of their discontent at lacking everything. They had neither coats nor shoes; and they were left without food for four days…. This desertion sets a very dangerous example; it proves how little reliance can be placed on such troops.

  Axel was often called upon to resolve differences between the American and French generals. This led us to think that he would make a wonderful diplomat. We’d always wanted a diplomat in the family.

  Newport, January 14th, 1781

  There is a coolness between General Washington and M. de Rochambeau; the displeasure is on the side of the American general; we are ignorant of its cause. Rochambeau has charged me to bring a letter to take to General Washington, who Anglicizes my name and calls me “Ferchin.” I am to inform myself as to the causes of his displeasure, and remove them if possible…. So you see, my dear father, I am entering diplomacy; it is my first attempt, and I shall try to come out of it well.

  Axel, who had engaged in this conflict in hopes of seeing armed action, was at first disappointed by the lethargy of the war’s beginning.

  Newport, May 17th, 1781

  We have had too much inaction, mortifying inaction. It would have been more useful to America if we had sent her the money we are costing the king here; the Americans would have employed it better. We ought to have had an army of 15,000 men on this continent; only 5,000 were sent, who have been in garrison in Newport for a year, and of no use whatsoever, except to eat up provisions and make them dearer. I hope we shall soon get out of this sloth and be active.

  I say nothing of my own affairs, dear Father…. I begin to be tired of being with M. de Rochambeau. He treats me with discrimination, and I’m grateful for it. But he has a distrustful, very disagreeable, and sometime insulting manner. He has more confidence in me than in any other of my comrades, but even that is paltry; his general officers are much displeased, as are his superior officers. They have the good sense, however, to conceal their discontent for the good of the cause.

  Like most of his Swedish compatriots, my brother was enamored of France, and so he was quite naturally anti-British, a predilection he expresses in the following letter.

  Newport, June 3, 1781

  Nothing has happened in these parts since my last letter. The English are making progress in the South; they burn or plunder everything; but they spend money to acquire new friends; before long they will have conquered the whole of that part of America; then the English will recognize the independence of the Northern states, or at least, will treat them as independent, and will keep the South for themselves. Imagine how glorious that will be for the arms of France!

  Axel was too modest to boast about his military valor, but in fact he did often engage in hazardous armed conflict, which led to great worry on our Part. Poor Père’s head trembled whenever he opened a letter from Axel.

  Yorktown, October 23, 1781

  …We are going into winter quarters in the neighborhood, at Williamsburg, a villainous little town that looks like a village.

  On the night of the 11th and 12th it was resolved that we would attack [the British]…. Four hundred grenadiers and infantrymen, supported by one thousand other soldiers, attacked their fortifications…. We captured only thirty-four prisoners and three officers. The Americans carried the other battlement; they worked all night to continue the trench, and by the morning of the 15th it was well covered.

  On the 17th, the enemy put up a truce flag, and Lord Cornwallis asked to capitulate. The generals were engaged the whole of the 18th in settling the articles; on the 19th the capitulation was signed and the troops laid down their arms. There is every indication that we shall next be laying siege on Charleston. The English will not fail to send troops from New York to that part of America, so I think we may have an active war…. M. de Rochambeau has asked for reinforcements and the taking of Savannah…and of Charleston may well be its result, and crown the work we have now so well begun.

  All our young colonels belonging to the French court are departing to spend their winter in Paris. Some will return; others will stay there and will be much surprised if they are not all made brigadier generals after fighting at the siege of Yorktown. I shall stay here, having no reason to go to Paris other than for my amusement and pleasure, and those I must sacrifice. My affairs can get on without me; I would spend a great deal of money, and I’d rather be careful with it. I prefer to engage in another campaign here, and to finish what I have begun.

  That last passage made me appreciate all the more a trait of my brother’s that I’d always admired since his early youth: his consistency, his lack of frivolity, his capacity for total dedication to a cause—qualities further enhanced by his participation in the Revolutionary War.

  Williamsburg, March 25th, 1782

  The last letter I had the honor of writing you, my dear father, was from Philadelphia. I left there on the 9th with the Chevalier de Luzerne, and we arrived here on the 17th. We made a charming journey and the provision boxes he brought with him, well furnished with pâtés, hams, wine, and bread, prevented us from experiencing the misery that reigns in the inns, where there is no bread, and nothing is found beyond salt pork. In much of Virginia the people eat nothing but cakes made of Indian corn flour, which they bake by the fire; that hardens the outside a little, but the inside remains uncooked dough. They drink nothing but rum (a sugared brandy) mixed with water. They call it grog. 250 miles from here, in a part of Virginia that they call “the mountains,” it is quite different. The country is richer, and there they cultivate tobacco; the soil also produces wheat and all sorts of fruits. The principal product of Virginia is tobacco; th
is State, which is the largest of the thirteen, is capable of other cultivation, but the laziness of the inhabitants and their conceit are great obstacles to industry. It really seems as if the Virginians were another race of men; instead of occupying themselves with their farms and making them profitable, each landowner wants to be a lord. No white man ever works, as in the West Indian islands; all the work is done by Negro slaves, who are ordered by the whites, and by overseers under them.

  In Virginia all persons engaged in trade are regarded as inferior to landowners, who say they are not gentlemen, and they do not choose to socialize with them. These Virginians have all the aristocratic instincts, and it is hard to understand how they came to…accept a government founded on conditions of perfect equality. But the same spirit that has led them to shake off the English yoke may lead them to other actions of the same kind, and I would not be surprised to see Virginia detach herself, after the peace, from the other States.

  While encamped in Virginia, Axel’s regiment was visited by a group of Iroquois, very devout Catholics who loved Mass, which seemed to serve them as a theater; they loved the shrimp the French troops offered them for dinner, but declared they preferred the taste of a British cook they’d recently consumed.

  Back in Sweden, Stockholm’s artistic life was thriving, thanks to King Gustavus’s passionate interest in the arts. This very year he had founded Sweden’s first opera house, the most technically advanced one in Europe. It was also the first opera house outside of Italy in which performances were sung in the local language, and not in Italian: at the Stockholm opera, singers sang in Swedish. These cultural events helped to allay the sadness and concern caused by Axel’s absence from our midst.