The arrest of Louis XVI in Varennes in 1791, as painted by Jean-Baptiste Lesueur. The king and queen were soon returned to Paris and were subsequently executed in 1793
GETTY/BBC PICTURES
THIS MONTH IN HISTORY ANNIVERSARIES
Outwardly, Louis XVI was supportive of the radical changes of the French Revolution of 1789. Privately, however, he and Marie Antoinette had been plotting their return to power. They planned to escape Paris for the north-eastern town of Montmédy, where 10,000 troops loyal to the ancien régime had mustered, ready for Louis to lead a counter-revolutionary assault.