Hmmm...weren’t they Swiss, not Austrians?
I know about the Swiss guards of King Louis XVI, most of whom were massacred by the revolutionaries in 1792 defending the Tuileries (the royal palace).
The impressive memorial the Swiss erected to the memory of their fallen brothers, the “Lion of Lucerne”, is mentioned in Mark Twain’s book “A tramp abroad”.
Its creator, Danish neo-classicist Bertel Thorvaldsen, was a celebrated sculptor of the early 19th century.
Yes, the Swiss guards were at the Tuileries guarding the royal suite when they were all killed then beheaded.
Their heads were propped on spears as the Royal family was escorted into Paris, and the last remaining guards were the first to be guillotined.
The Louis XXVI had Austrian troops sent in to stop the revolution and republicans, and when they were imprisoned, Marie Antoinette was giving away French troop movements to her family in Austria. That didn’t help his cause at all.