The Affair of the Diamond Necklace was the lynchpin of bringing about the French Revolution.
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace is a true crime story about how one con artist, Jeanne de la Motte, obtained a jaw-dropping necklace by using the French monarchy and a religious leader in a skilled web of lies. While she may have only wanted the necklace, the scandal contributed to the downfall of an entire monarchy.
Who knew a 2,800-carat diamond necklace could be so instrumental in the French Revolution? Let's break this down slowly because this drama is a doozy!
- In 1772, King Louis XV commissioned a ridiculously ornate necklace intended for his mistress Madame du Barry. 💏 💃💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎
- He died after the necklace was ordered and before it could be paid for. ☠️ 💸
- The jewelers who made the 2,000,000-livre tournois ($14 million USD in 2015) necklace thought King Louis XV's granddaughter-in-law, Queen Marie Antoinette, would like to own it.💸💸💸💸💸💸💸👸
- She did not. 🙅
- In fact, she hated Madame du Barry. 🙅 💃
- Meanwhile, a con-artist by the name of Jeanne de la Motte wanted to obtain said necklace to her own personal wealth. 💁🤑
- Jeanne becomes the mistress of Cardinal de Rohan. 💁 🙏
- Marie Antoinette hated him, too. 🙅 🙏
- Trying to get back into the Queen's good graces, Cardinal de Rohan believed Jeanne when she talked about how good of a relationship she had with the Queen. 👯
- There was no relationship.🙅 🤥
- Pretending to be the Queen, Jeanne wrote to Rohan asking if he would obtain the necklace on her behalf because she couldn't possibly make such an outlandish purchase when public opinion of the monarchy was in such poor condition. 💁 🙏 ⛔ 🙅👑
- Rohan gets the necklace, assuring the jewelers that they would receive payments in installments and provided proof of "correspondence" with himself and the Queen. 🙏 💸💌💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎
- Rohan brings the necklace to Jeanne, where it is then picked apart and sold on the black market. 🙏 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💁💍💍💍💍💸💸💸💸💸💸
- Due to insufficient funds, the jewelers went to complain to the Queen who had no idea what they were talking about. 👑🤷
- She asked for more information. 🤔🙋
- Merde got real. 💩
- Rohan and Jeanne were arrested. 👮🙏 💁
- Rohan was acquitted. 🙌
- Jeanne received a life sentence in a prison for prostitutes. 💁 😩💃💃💃💃
- Despite the Queen being blameless, her aloof and indifferent public image made the French think she was still somehow involved in the matter. 👑🤷
- After spending a year in prison, Jeanne escaped by dressing as a boy. 💇 🏃
- In 1789, the French Revolution officially begins by the takeover of the Bastille. 🔥🗡️🏰🇫🇷✊
- That same year, Jeanne, now living in England, published her memoirs further bashing Marie Antoinette, which fueled more public hatred of the monarchy. 💁🇬🇧📖
- With an avalanche of economic turmoil, food shortages, a distaste for the aristocracy and monarchy, heads literally begin to roll. 😩😱😵🗡️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️
Remember, no matter how bad things get in the world of today's politics, you can be glad a necklace won't be cited as the root cause.
While the original was dismantled, the necklace itself has been reconstructed for public viewing at the Château de Breteuil and the Palace of Versailles.
