Victor von Gibelin (1771–1853), also known as Beau Gibelin because of his beauty, was a Swiss military officer in French service and a politician in his hometown of Solothurn in Switzerland. He was the last officer of the Swiss Guards under King Louis XVI.
Victor von Gibelin became famous for different reasons: His friendship with Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, a Swiss military officer in French service from Solothurn; The meeting with the Prince of Wales, later King George IV, on his escape from the French Revolution in 1792; As one of the leading exponents of the anti-Helvetic resistance in the period between 1798 and 1802.
However, he became famous beyond Switzerland's borders for his eyewitness report of the events surrounding the Storming of the Palais des Tuileries on 10 August 1792, where he narrowly escaped death. His report was published posthumously in German and in French in 1866.Jakob Amiet: Chevalier Victor von Gibelin, Originalbericht des Gardeoffiziers Victor von Gibelin, letzter Offizier der Schweizergarde unter König Ludwig XVI., deutsche Ausgabe, Haller'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Bern, 1866Andreas Fankhauser: Viktor von Gibelin, Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Version vom 11.11.2005, online, 2024Jakob Amiet: Chevalier Victor von Gibelin, Originalbericht des Gardeoffiziers Victor von Gibelin, letzter Offizier der Schweizergarde unter König Ludwig XVI., deutsche Ausgabe, Haller'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Bern, 1866, pp. 7 und 17
Early years Victor von Gibelin was born in Solothurn. His father was Heinrich Daniel von Gibelin (1726–1783), a Swiss military officer in French service and a politician in Solothurn. His mother was Maria Anna Ludovica von Gibelin, née von Roll. In his early years he was educated at home by a tutor named Gisiger. From 1783 to 1786 he attended the Gymnasium in Solothurn.Jakob Amiet: Chevalier Victor von Gibelin, Originalbericht des Gardeoffiziers Victor von Gibelin, letzter Offizier der Schweizergarde unter König Ludwig XVI., deutsche Ausgabe, Haller'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Bern, 1866, pp. 43–44
A friend for life The tutor Gisiger remained a loyal friend to Victor von Gibelin throughout his life. Gisiger later emigrated to Rouen, where he settled as a merchant. In September 1792, when Victor von Gibelin was on the run with his comrade Anton von Glutz-Ruchti (1756–1837), Gisiger provided the two with false passports and false identities as Portuguese merchants, enabling them to further escape to Dieppe and ultimately to England.
In French service
In 1786, Victor von Gibelin became a sous-lieutenant of the Swiss Régiment de Salis-Samade in France. In this capacity, in July 1789, he stood with his regiment on the Champ de Mars side by side with Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, an influential Swiss military officer in French service and close friend of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette. In 1789, the Baron de Besenval was appointed Commandant en chef of the troops brought to Paris to suppress the riots which had been going on for some time. After 14 July 1789, Victor von Gibelin transferred to the Company de Besenval of the Swiss Guards in the same military rank, but in the function of an Officier-Major. On 10 August 1792, as Sous-Aide-Major, he commanded a battalion of the Swiss Guards during the Storming of the Palais des Tuileries, where he narrowly escaped death.Jakob Amiet: Chevalier Victor von Gibelin, Originalbericht des Gardeoffiziers Victor von Gibelin, letzter Offizier der Schweizergarde unter König Ludwig XVI., deutsche Ausgabe, Haller'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Bern, 1866, p. 7Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval: Mémoires de M. Le Baron de Besenval, imprimerie de Jeunehomme, rue de Sorbonne no. 4, Paris, 1805 – chez F. Buisson, libraire, rue Hautefeuille no. 31, Paris, tome III, pp. 397–401Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Baron Peter Viktor von Besenval: Ein Solothurner am Hofe von Versailles, Rothus Verlag, Solothurn, 1994, pp. 120–122
The Last Supper with the Baron de Besenval On 2 June 1791, Victor von Gibelin was a guest at a memorable dinner at the Hôtel de Besenval, the Baron de Besenval's hôtel particulier in Paris. Pierre Victor de Besenval had invited 25 people, including: His mistress Catherine-Louise, Marquise de Courcelles et de La Suze, née de Santo-Domingo (1757–1826), wife of Louis-François de Chamillart, Marquis de Courcelles et de La Suze. The marquise acted as the lady of the house that evening His illegitimate son Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur His secretary, Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després Pierre Georges Félicien de Boffin d'Argenson, Comte de Puisigneu (* 1750), Commandant du Régiment Royal-Lorraine cavalerie, and his wife Louise Adélaïde Julie, Comtesse de Puisigneu, née de Santo-Domingo, sister of the Baron de Besenval's mistress Maréchal Philippe Henri, Marquis de Ségur, and his son Louis Philippe, Comte de Ségur Franz Joseph, Baron von Roll von Emmenholz, a relative of Pierre Victor de Besenval from Solothurn and owner of the Palais Besenval Victor von Gibelin's Swiss Guard comrade and compatriot from Solothurn, the Aide-Major Anton von Glutz-Ruchti (1756–1837)
The baron's last appearance
Pierre Victor de Besenval only appeared to his guests briefly that evening. He wasn't feeling well, but was still in the mood to joke. When the guests were already sitting at the table in the dining room, the baron appeared, wrapped in a white cloth like the stone statue in Don Juan, and said in a sepulchral voice: "It is the Commandant's shade that comes to visit you." Delighted with his successful joke, the baron greeted his guests before retreating – marked by weakness – to his bedroom, leaning on Victor von Gibelin. The guests, however, were shocked at the sight of the deathly pale and emaciated baron. Victor von Gibelin remained in the presence of Pierre Victor de Besenval, in whose arms the baron died an hour later. The autopsy found the cause of death to be a polyp in the heart. Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Baron Peter Viktor von Besenval: Ein Solothurner am Hofe von Versailles, Rothus Verlag, Solothurn, 1994, pp. 189–190
"Le Suisse le plus français qui ait jamais été" (the most French Swiss that ever was), as Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve once called Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, was buried on 6 June 1791 in the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, the church of his family's gravesite.Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve: Causeries du lundi: Le baron de Besenval – le Suisse le plus français qui ait jamais été, (lundi, 5 janvier 1857), Editions Garnier, tome XII, 1870, p. 492Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 151
The Solothurn patrician families von Besenval, von Roll and von Gibelin were all related to each other. Victor von Gibelin was therefore related to both Franz Joseph, Baron von Roll von Emmenholz, and Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt. He was also related to his comrade Ludwig Robert, Baron von Roll.H. de Schaller / Paul Maillefer: Revue Historique Vaudoise – Le Régiment de Roll au service de l'Angleterre, Louis, Baron de Roll, Adjudant du Comte d'Artois et fondateur du Régiment de Roll au service britannique, Bulletin historique de la Suisse romande, première année, Imprimerie Vincent, Lausanne, 1893, p. 98 (en référence à l'article du Lieutenant-Colonel Adolphe Bürckli paru dans le 88e numéro de la « Feuerwerker Gesellschaft » de Zurich)
Victor von Gibelin owned a portrait of Pierre Victor de Besenval, which he treasured and on the back of which he hand-wrote: "Mort dans mes bras" (died in my arms). The baron's portrait was passed down within the family. In the second half of the 19th century, this portrait was owned by Urs Viktor Vigier von Steinbrugg.Jakob Amiet: Chevalier Victor von Gibelin, Originalbericht des Gardeoffiziers Victor von Gibelin, letzter Offizier der Schweizergarde unter König Ludwig XVI., deutsche Ausgabe, Haller'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Bern, 1866, pp. 19 und 57
A European Odyssey with a Royal Audience in Brighton
After the disastrous Storming of the Palais des Tuileries on 10 August 1792 and the subsequent hunt by revolutionaries on the Swiss troops loyal to the king, Victor von Gibelin and his comrade Anton von Glutz-Ruchti (1756–1837) hid in various places in Paris. As the situation became more and more dangerous, they fled on 14 September with the help of friends, false passports and a large payment of money to a smuggler from Paris via Dieppe to England, where they arrived shipwrecked in Newhaven at the end of September 1792. On 1 October they travelled on to Brighton, where they were received by the Prince of Wales at the Royal Pavilion. The prince had heard the story of the two shipwrecked officers of the Swiss Guards Regiment and was curious to find out the latest information from revolutionary France. From Brighton they finally reached London.Jakob Amiet: Chevalier Victor von Gibelin, Originalbericht des Gardeoffiziers Victor von Gibelin, letzter Offizier der Schweizergarde unter König Ludwig XVI., deutsche Ausgabe, Haller'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Bern, 1866, pp. 42–48
The network of the Swiss Guards In London they met Catherine-Louise, Marquise de Courcelles et de La Suze, née de Santo-Domingo (1757–1826), the former mistress of Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, who in turn was formerly Victor von Gibelin's superior. The Marquise who had also fled France and who, like Victor von Gibelin and Anton von Glutz-Ruchti, was also present at the Baron de Besenval's last supper on 2 June 1791 at the Hôtel de Besenval, helped them to stay in London and to make contact to other French emigrants and the Ambassador of Austria, Johann Philipp von Stadion. Of course, the Ambassador of Austria was interested in news from France since the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was an Austrian princess. The ambassador and the emigrants supported the two during their stay in London and during their planned onward journey to the continent.Jakob Amiet: Chevalier Victor von Gibelin, Originalbericht des Gardeoffiziers Victor von Gibelin, letzter Offizier der Schweizergarde unter König Ludwig XVI., deutsche Ausgabe, Haller'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Bern, 1866, pp. 48 und 49