Case of the Diamond Necklace
The passion for jewelry (mostly adorned with diamonds and pearls) Queen of France Marie Antoinette, born Austrian Archduchess is well known. With a taste very different from his last two predecessors in the French throne - the Polish and Spanish Leckzinska Maria Maria Theresa of Austria, several pieces of jewelry belonging to the royal crown of France had to change them during his reign.
In May 1770, when the young Austrian woman of 14 years arrived in France, brought in their large and luxurious luggage containing a beautiful ring as a single gem diamond blue-gray heart-shaped weighing 5.46 carats. The ring belonged to the private collection of Marie Antoinette, and only in 1791, after his arrest by members of the Revolution, became the Garde Meuble kept in (the building located on the Place de La Concorde, in Paris, where he deposited the entire collection of the Crown French).
Around 1780 were aggravated malicious rumors against Marie Antoinette, accusing it of dissipation, extravagance and sexual addictions. Being Austrian and foreign - the Austrian Habsburgs held enormous power in Europe then and had been for centuries the enemies of the ruling house French - the French, especially those who were already in favor of a separate system of government than that of absolutism, where tried to defame the queen through pamphlets and serials obscene sold and distributed through the streets of Paris. The slope of Marie Antoinette for luxury (he was a patron of the arts and favored with his patronage, the porcelain made in the town of Sèvres, painters, musicians and actors), the fancy hairstyles and expensive dresses, and the favoritism of a select group of friends and a totally inadequate policy, contributed nothing to the rumors diminished.
What became known as "The Case of the Diamond Necklace" and greatly eroded the image of Marie Antoinette before his subjects, was created from people with totally different situations: the ambitious Madame de Lamotte - Valois impoverished distant descendant of ancient kings French looking for a position at the court of Versailles, the perverted, rich and dangerous Prince De Rohan - Cardinal of France for whom the Queen entertained a great dislike and distrust, and despair jeweler Boehmer - who was handling a fabulously expensive diamond necklace originally tailored for that Louis XV, grandfather and predecessor of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette's husband, such as a gift to his last mistress, Madame Du Barry.
Without direct access to the queen, but using his good looks and a great deal of charm, Madame de Lamotte was able to attract the attention of the cardinal and the jeweler, convincing them that he had a close relationship with Marie Antoinette and that it wanted to buy collar. Overwhelming desire to return to the inner circle of courtiers around Marie Antoinette, the Cardinal let himself be persuaded and took the necklace with the jeweler, Boehmer convinced that he, Cardinal, would cause the Queen to buy the necklace.
Using a prostitute who resembled Marie Antoinette, Madame de Lamotte scored several meetings between the Cardinal and the Queen false evening in the gardens near the Temple of Love at Versailles, where there were rumors that the real queen was there with lovers. In these meetings, the cardinal was deceived that would be received by Marie Antoinette again in his inner circle and thus gave the intriguing Madame collar, so that it did arrive discreetly at the hands of the queen.
When the jeweler Boehmer was the queen and asked for the necklace will be paid, the confusion settled. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were aware of all the details, and dislike of Marie Antoinette and the Cardinal turned to hatred. The king supported his wife to seize the Cardinal - occupying the highest post in Catholic France - in public, in front of the whole court of Versailles. Besides the embarrassment of arrest, the queen wanted revenge and the cardinal was then subjected to a trial by the Parliament of Paris.
The trial was a sensation for months and a lot of dirty laundry from the court of Versailles was washed in public. The result was a disaster for the queen and tell many years later as further evidence against her, during his "trial" by the revolutionary members of the National Convention.
In the end, the nobles who made up the French Parliament acquitted the powerful Cardinal de Rohan of any premeditated insult to the queen and, worse still, they appear in the record that, given the bad reputation of Marie Antoinette - for many years that the Queen was the victim of famous libels, the equivalent in today's tabloids, these were circulating freely in Paris and major French cities and were read by representatives of various social classes - she was worthy of the cardinal had been led to believe that love would receive favors in exchange for a diamond necklace.
But Madame de Lamotte sentenced to prison and marked iron with V (voleur) a thief. However, some time later, she escapes from prison and takes refuge in England. From there it circulates thousands of serials which account falsely that it was the Queen's lover and that it was just a great fun to Marie Antoinette, and that this would have been with the diamond necklace, which is absolutely false.
In October 1793, shortly before his execution, Marie Antoinette gave a magnificent diamond ring with blue-gray to Lubomirska princess, one of his closest friends. With the death of Princess years later, his immense wealth and jewels were divided between four daughters, three of whom were married to members of a Polish aristocratic family, the Potocki.
In 1955, the ring can be appreciated by the public at Versailles on the occasion of the exhibition "Marie Antoinette, Archduchess, Delfina and Queen." In 1983, the auction house Christie's put the ring on sale.
In the 1950-60 many jewelers and gem dealers Americans went to Europe to buy antique jewelry belonging to families who had lost everything during the Second World War. Van Cleef, Cartier and Harry Winston were among them. But only interested in the bud, since the design of the jewelry had been modernized and no one else is interested in the ancient styles. The gems, especially diamonds, rubies and sapphires, was taken from the old pieces and sent to be cut into new forms, but some pieces of jewelry purchased by Harry Winston sold to customers as they were collectors of antique jewelry, such as Marjorie Merriweather Post, later, he donated a substantial number of them to the Smithsonian Museum, located in Washington, USA. Among the donated jewelry, was a pair of diamond earrings belonging to Marie Antoinette.
Raised in a Catholic court and with the imperial mother - in every sense - Maria Theresa of Austria, had his marriage to the French Dauphin Louis Augustus (later Louis XVI) agreed between France and Austria as an important move towards promote a relaxation of tensions between the two countries that fought in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and the next two centuries continued to be antagonistic.
Marie Antoinette from the beginning was hated by the courtiers of Versailles, and was unable to position themselves politically (his imperial mother wanted her as a defender of Austrian interests in France and the French wanted the ball away from power at the time), preferring - perhaps because it part of his personality, but also, and certainly taking their actions motivated by the non-consummation of her marriage for long seven years (a period when he faced pressure from the two countries that produced an heir to the throne of France, when in fact it was for only "half guilt "for the failure of marriage suffering) and the total absence of childhood friends from Austria, sent back as soon as the Archduchess first stepped on French soil - a life where the dresses, shoes, hairstyles and the frivolities of the French court had preponderance.
When a mother (four children, two died in infancy), has to be more mature and concerned about what was happening around him. Unfortunately, it could not reverse the negative image it had before the Court and especially the people, tortured by harsh winters and the resulting crops very weak, but rather a victim of the huge deficit created by the French funding the war for independence in the English colonies against England and culminating in the emergence of the United States of North America.
With a weak husband and without the profile to be king of a country like France, then, the queen was imprisoned with his family, first in the palace of the Tuileries, after the old palace of the Temple and finally the Conciergerie, which he left to 38 years of age to the guillotine.
Used throughout the process as a scapegoat by officials of the French Revolution has, however, worthy conduct at all times that has stuck and even in his "trial" (he was previously convicted). He died quite saddened by the death of her husband (who did not love but respected), and even more, because his only surviving son, the Dauphin Louis, having been taken of the hands while still in prison in the Temple and have served as number accusatory against their mother, accusing her of incest, which never occurred and that the devastated.
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