Delve deeper into the world of the BBC hit drama series Versailles,
and discover the real Marie-Antoinette in this ground-breaking study of
her secret love affair with the Swedish diplomat Count Axel von Fersen.
For the first time an historian has compiled all the known letters
between Swedish count Axel von Fersen and Marie-Antoinette, including
six letters never before published. With unprecedented access to French
and Swedish archives, Evelyn Farr has proven beyond doubt one of
history's greatest romances. Axel von Fersen was Queen
Marie-Antoinette's lover and loyal counsellor who gave her political
advice from 1785 to the fall of the French monarchy at the time of the
French Revolution. He organized the Royal Family's escape from Paris in
1791. Evelyn Farr's revelatory work on the subject also goes some way to
proving that Count Fersen was in fact the biological father of Marie
Antoinette's two younger children. Farr unveils the logistics and
practicalities behind the romance; the use of code and invisible ink,
the role of intermediaries, secret seals, double envelopes, codenames
and the location of Fersen's clandestine lodgings at Versailles. I Love
You Madly is a meticulously researched and enjoyable study of a
forbidden love at a time of revolution. The letters portray a rebellious
and independent queen who risked everything and broke all the rules to
love the man who succeeded in conquering her heart.
