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Oct 27, 2024

Diamond necklace that graced George VI's Coronation and was linked to scandal that ruined Marie Antoinette's reputation is set to fetch £2.1m at auction

By Ryan Prosser and Carol Woolton 13:05 26 Oct 2024, updated 14:27 26 Oct 2024 Comments Comments A diamond necklace which was linked to a scandal which ruined Marie Antoinette's reputation is set to

By Ryan Prosser and Carol Woolton 13:05 26 Oct 2024, updated 14:27 26 Oct 2024

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A diamond necklace which was linked to a scandal which ruined Marie Antoinette's reputation is set to fetch £2.1million at an auction.

The antique necklace, which was also worn at the coronations of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II, is set to go under the gavel at Sotheby's Geneva on November 13, with bids accepted from next Friday.

Dating to around 1776, the rare piece is made from 300-carat diamonds, believed to have come from India's famous Golconda mines, in a scarf-style design with a pair of tassels.

Some experts believe that the necklace may have been made from some of the diamonds at the centre of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, the 1780’s theft from Crown jewellers Boehmer and Bassenge orchestrated by Comtesse Jeanne de la Motte.

She forged Antoinette's signature to get the necklace. Though innocent, the queen's reputation never recovered.

It played a role in ending the Bourbon regime, the start of the French Revolution and eventually led to the execution of the queen, right.

The necklace was broken up and the diamonds bought to London in 1785, with a receipt from jeweller Robert Gray documenting the purchase of a substantial amount of them. It is believed they were used for these rows of diamonds, above, designed in a 'negligée'.

The necklace didn't resurface until the early 20th century when it was owned by the Marquesses of Anglesey. In 1937, Marjorie Paget, Lady Anglesey, wore the jewel to King George VI's coronation.

She was given the necklace as a wedding present by her husband the 6th Marquess, Charles Paget. He in turn inherited the piece from his cousin, the 5th Marquess Henry Cyril Paget, who was known for his taste of jewellery, although most of his collection was sold off to cover his debts after he died in 1905.

Paget's daughter-in-law, Shirley Morgan, wore the necklace in a knot to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

The necklace is now being sold from a private Asian collection, the Telegraph reported.

Marie Antoinette was the daughter of Francis I, the Holy Roman Emperor.

He betrothed her to King Louis XVI to strengthen ties between France and Austria, her native country.

Marie Antoinette was only 14 and Louis just 15 when they married and received two million francs worth of jewellery from her French father-in-law.

The queen would also receive many more jewels from her husband over the years of their marriage.

The glittering pieces were fitting for a woman who many regard as the first celebrity, someone who easily outshone her rather drab husband.

It was said that her smile had an 'enchantment' that could win over 'the most brutal of her enemies'.

Her jewellery collection was by far the biggest of any French queen and rivalled only by Empress Josephine, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.

By the end of 1776, Marie Antoinette had a dress allowance of 150,000 livres, at a time when the price of an an average house in a French town was 200 livres.

As she gambled, partied and lavished money on whatever took her fancy, she racked up bills of nearly 500,000 livres.

Versailles was the centre of fashion at its peak of eccentricity. Wigs were packed with powder and adorned with ribbons, feathers, flowers, fruit and even stuffed birds.

The queen had a personal coiffeur who designed her own 4ft tall hair-do that boasted a replica of the French warship La Belle Poule, complete with four masts, sails and jewelled portholes.

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Marie Antoinette's biggest passion was her jewels.

Louis raided the French crown jewels to allow his queen to indulge her passion for rubies, and she was also a particular fan of pearls.

As she was being painted while decked out in strands of pearls and other glittering pieces, the French economy was in the doldrums.

Harvests failed, peasants starved and rumours about the queen swirled.

They focused not only on her remarkable excesses, but also her serial infidelity.

But it was the necklace affair in 1785 that many scholars believe paved the way for her execution.

The necklace, which was made of 647 stones weighing nearly 2,800 carats, was the most expensive in the world, valued at around $20million today.

It had been designed by Louis XV's jewellers, the esteemed Boehmer and Bassange, for his mistress, Madame du Barry.

However, Louis passed away before the piece could be finished and so Boehmer and Bassange tried to sell the necklace to Marie Antoinette and the new King Louis VI.

But the royal couple refused to buy it and the queen instead urged Boehmer to break it up and sell it in several pieces.

In stepped impoverished aristocrat Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, who had become the mistress of the powerful Cardinal de Rohan, a former French ambassador to Vienna.

He was keen to get back in the queen's good books after she recalled him from his post in the belief that he was stirring up trouble with her mother.

The cardinal was encouraged by de Valois-Saint-Rémy to write to the queen.

What he did not know was that the queen's affectionate replies were being written by de Valois-Saint-Rémy.

Believing that Marie Antoinette was in love with him, the cardinal was persuaded to meet with a woman he was told was the queen.

In fact, this woman was a prostitute who had been hired by de Valois-Saint-Rémy to pretend to be the queen.

When the cardinal received a purported letter from the queen asking him to organise the purchase of the diamond necklace for her, he went about doing so.

After showing Boehmer and Bassange the correspondence as proof and giving them a deposit, the Cardinal was given the necklace in the belief he would deliver it to the queen.

But instead he gave it to de Valois-Saint-Rémy, who promised that she would give it to Marie-Antoinette.

The mistress then sold its constituent jewels on the black market.

When Boehmer sought payment from the queen, she truthfully insisted that she knew nothing.

Despite her innocence in this particular scandal, in the eyes of the public Marie Antoinette was guilty.

Here, many believed, was evidence of wrongdoing and yet more unjustifiable extravagance.

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