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How did the Marquis de Lafayette protect Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at Versailles in October 1789?
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Marquis de Lafayette
Marquis de Lafayette, chromolithograph by P.S. Duval, 1851.
During the French Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette served as the commander of the newly formed national guard of Paris. On October 6, 1789, when a hostile crowd invaded the Palace of Versailles, Lafayette’s troops intervened to protect King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette from the fury of the mob. Following this intervention, Lafayette escorted the royal family to Paris, where they subsequently became hostages of the revolution.12