Dimensions
125 x 197 x 43mm
A fascinating true-crime story involving Marie Antoinette, set in the period of Revolutionary France.
Four years before the French Revolution some priceless diamonds - they cost 1.8m francs, "the price of a battleship" - were purchased in elaborate secrecy from the court jeweller of France, presumably for Marie Antoinette and at her own instructions.
The necklace - not yet paid for - was delivered into the hands of Cardinal Prince de Rohan, first prelate of the Church of France. He in turn gave it to the Countess de La Motte-Valois, who claimed to be acting for the Queen. Although essentially an innocent bystander amidst this chicanery, Marie Antoinette became embroiled in a scandal which fatally weakened the monarchy.
