The Fall of the French Monarchy - Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and the baron de Breteuil

Munro Price's powerful new book confronts one of the great, enduring mysteries of the French Revolution; the real actions and feelings of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette as they watched their sovereignty collapse. Dragged back from Versailles to Paris by the crowd in October 1789, the King and Queen became prisoners in the capital. They were compelled for their own safety to publicly approve the Revolution and its programme. Yet, in deep secrecy, they soon began to elaborate a very different, and dangerous, strategy. The precautions they were forced to take against discovery, and the bloody overthrow of the monarchy three years later, dispersed or obliterated most of the clues to their real policy. The Fall of the French Monarchy reconstructs in detail, for the first time, the King and Queen's clandestine diplomacy from 1789 until their executions. To do so, it focuses on a vital, colourful, and largely ignored figure, the royal couple's confidant, the baron de Breteuil. Exiled from France by the Revolution, it was Breteuil who became their secret Prime Minister, and confidential emissary to the courts of Europe. His discretion was such that it bas only now became possible to unravel the truth. To unlock these secrets, The Fall of the French Monarchy draws on highly important unpublished material, much still in private hands. In this challenging and provocative work, Munro Price takes us behind the Revolution into the secret world of one of the most intriguing historical couples. Meticulously researched and utterly fascinating, The Fall of the French Monarchy is a completely fresh insight into one of the most controversial events in modern history.