In the summer of 1792, almost a year after Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI’s failed escape, things were about to get worse. Locked away in the Palais des Tuileries and watched more closely, Louis XVI was still the king of France. In April, war was declared against Austria and the king of Bohemia, and was not going well, Prussia united with Austria against France which wouldn’t help Marie Antoinette’s image either. It was a disaster and the king was blamed for the mismanagement.
On June 20, the one-year anniversary of the escape, armed citizens entered the Tuileries and the bedrooms of the royal family. The Swiss Guards were able to control them after a few hours and the incident would rally Parisians behind the king. However, many in the government were beginning to turn away from him.
On August 9 the new government of Paris, the Paris Commune moved into the offices of the Hotel de Ville. During the night they met to come up with a plan to “save the state”. Meeting until 3 o’clock in the morning, one side wanted to attack the kingit and the other fought against it. Louis XVI wasn’t playing along with the changes in the government and it was all about to end.
At 8am on August 10, 1792 thousands of men, women and even children armed with weapons charged the Tuileries. Louis XVI had the 950 Swiss Guards moved inside the palace to guard the family and left 930 gendarmes and 2000 national guards outside to keep the angry mob at bay. One little issue, they had very little ammunition. The royal family was able to escape and ran through the garden to the Assembly for safety.
Louis XVI was treated to wine and food, while Marie was tossed in a locked room with her children. It was essentially the end of the monarchy as they ran through the Jardin des Tuileries, on September 21 it would formally end and four months later he would be killed at the Place de la Revolution.
Most of the Swiss Guards were killed in the conflict and would later be buried at the Chapelle Expiatoire, where they would guard the bodies of the king and queen until 1815 when they were moved to the Basilique Saint-Denis.