22. An Unfortunate Change of Plans that Doomed a Well-Planned Escape
Outside of Paris, the escape party broke up, and the royals took a post route, while von Fersen continued on via a different route. They planned to meet again at Montmedy, but the reunion never took place, thanks to a change of plans. To spirit away the French royal family and their close intimates, von Fersen had arranged for two fast light carriages, that could have made it to Montmedy relatively quickly. However, to make that work, the royal family would have had to split up and travel in two separate carriages, and the king and queen adamantly refused to accept that.
Instead, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette decided on a different ride at the last minute: a bigger and more conspicuous carriage drawn by six horses, that could accommodate everybody. It turned out to be a bad choice. Louis entered the contraption disguised as the valet of a Russian noblewoman – the governess of the royal children, who pretended to be their mother. Marie Antoinette pretended to be a governess, while her sister acted like a nurse. They made it out of Paris unchallenged, but they soon came to rue their last-minute carriage change.