Flight to Varennes
When the French Revolution erupted, he was a colonel of Dragoons, and throughout the following period, he remained a Legitimist. Choiseul-Stainville took part in the attempt of King Louis XVI to escape from Paris on 20 June 1791, was arrested with the king, and imprisoned ("see Flight to Varennes"). Liberated in May 1792, he fled France in October, and fought in the émigré army of Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé against the French Republic. Captured in 1795, he was confined at Dunkirk, escaped, set sail for India, was wrecked on the French coast, and condemned to death by the decree of the French Directory. Nevertheless, he was fortunate enough to escape once more.