The Affair of the Necklace: It Sounds Fictional but was Real
In 1785 the French royal family were embroiled in a scandal which appeared to highlight their greed and negligence. In reality they were victims of what some historians have called an “intrigue”, but is perhaps better described as a con trick. The fall out, including the way the king reacted, contributed to the French Revolution (in brief / in depth).
The Affair of the Necklace began when Countess de La Motte and a number of associates decided to try and make a large amount of money by fraudulently obtaining, and then selling, a particular diamond necklace.
Worth over one and a half million livres, the necklace was owned by a Paris jeweller who had failed to sell it to both King Louis XV and Louis XVI of France. Their plan was to try and have it purchased for Queen Marie Antoinette, but take it instead.
To effect their plan, they courted the services of Cardinal de Rohan in 1785. He was a famed figure and had worked as a French ambassador, but in doing so had earned the enmity of Empress Maria Theresa and then her daughter Marie Antoinette. Rohan was thus keen to get back into the good graces of the French royal family, and seized a chance he was offered: La Motte told him that Marie wished to buy the necklace in secret, and if Rohan could organise this he would be welcome back at court. Rohan, persuaded by fake letters he should have easily seen through and a supposed meeting with the queen – it turned out to be a prostitute in disguise, although Marie’s enemies didn’t draw much of a difference – then arranged for a set of instalments to be paid in return for the necklace.
The necklace was thus obtained, and La Motte spirited it away where it was divided up and sold. However, Rohan failed to raise enough money to pay the first instalment, and the jewellers applied directly to the Queen for the rest of the money, alerting her and the king to what was happening. In a move later supporters of Louis XVI have come to regret, the king didn’t try and conceal what was happening; instead he had Rohan arrested, locked up in the Bastille, and tried publicly. Rohan was sacked and exiled from court, La Motte was branded and sentenced to life imprisonment, although she escaped to London.
Marie-Antoinette was innocent of any involvement in the Affair of the Necklace, but to her enemies – and there were a growing number of hostile citizens in France – that scarcely mattered. The Affair was seen to confirm Marie’s reputation as a free-spending, loose-living parasite. In addition arresting and punishing a Cardinal in such a manner undermined the legitimacy of both the king and his government, both of which were being assailed by doubts, claims of weakness and demands for reform. The Affair is generally noted as having played a role, albeit a small one, in the final collapse of the French monarchy which followed in the French Revolution of the next decade. No one really knows what happened to the jewels, but the jeweller – Boehmer and Bassenge – went bankrupt, and their heirs kept a legal case going against Rohan’s heirs until 1867.
The Con
The Affair of the Necklace began when Countess de La Motte and a number of associates decided to try and make a large amount of money by fraudulently obtaining, and then selling, a particular diamond necklace.
Worth over one and a half million livres, the necklace was owned by a Paris jeweller who had failed to sell it to both King Louis XV and Louis XVI of France. Their plan was to try and have it purchased for Queen Marie Antoinette, but take it instead.
To effect their plan, they courted the services of Cardinal de Rohan in 1785. He was a famed figure and had worked as a French ambassador, but in doing so had earned the enmity of Empress Maria Theresa and then her daughter Marie Antoinette. Rohan was thus keen to get back into the good graces of the French royal family, and seized a chance he was offered: La Motte told him that Marie wished to buy the necklace in secret, and if Rohan could organise this he would be welcome back at court. Rohan, persuaded by fake letters he should have easily seen through and a supposed meeting with the queen – it turned out to be a prostitute in disguise, although Marie’s enemies didn’t draw much of a difference – then arranged for a set of instalments to be paid in return for the necklace.
The Affair is made Public
The necklace was thus obtained, and La Motte spirited it away where it was divided up and sold. However, Rohan failed to raise enough money to pay the first instalment, and the jewellers applied directly to the Queen for the rest of the money, alerting her and the king to what was happening. In a move later supporters of Louis XVI have come to regret, the king didn’t try and conceal what was happening; instead he had Rohan arrested, locked up in the Bastille, and tried publicly. Rohan was sacked and exiled from court, La Motte was branded and sentenced to life imprisonment, although she escaped to London.
The Aftermath
Marie-Antoinette was innocent of any involvement in the Affair of the Necklace, but to her enemies – and there were a growing number of hostile citizens in France – that scarcely mattered. The Affair was seen to confirm Marie’s reputation as a free-spending, loose-living parasite. In addition arresting and punishing a Cardinal in such a manner undermined the legitimacy of both the king and his government, both of which were being assailed by doubts, claims of weakness and demands for reform. The Affair is generally noted as having played a role, albeit a small one, in the final collapse of the French monarchy which followed in the French Revolution of the next decade. No one really knows what happened to the jewels, but the jeweller – Boehmer and Bassenge – went bankrupt, and their heirs kept a legal case going against Rohan’s heirs until 1867.