The Affair of the Diamond Necklace

Introduction

• In 1785, Queen Marie Antoinette was engaged in a notorious diamond necklace scandal at the French court.
• Jeanne de la Motte, a cunning con artist, set up a ruse to con a wealthy cardinal by pretending to be the queen.
• This con's unintended ramifications were extremely wide-ranging and contributed to the French Revolution.

Royal Commission

• In 1772, King Louis XV commissioned the jewelers, Boehmer and Bassenge to create an intricate necklace for his mistress, Madame du Barry.
• The jewelers made a diamond necklace with 647 stones totaling 2,800 carats in weight. It took years to complete and the price range is from 2 million livres (approximately £8 million today).
• By the time it was finished, Louis died of smallpox, and his heir, Louis XVI, exiled du Barry. The jewelers attempted to sell the jewelry to Queen Marie Antoinette, but she refused.

The Plan

• King Henri II's illegitimate son had a descendant named Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy.
• In 1780, she married Nicolas de la Motte, a gendarmes officer, and they were known as Count and Countess de la Motte.
• The king gave them a modest pension, but it wasn't enough to give Jeanne the lifestyle she wanted or the social standing she believed she should have.
• When Jeanne learned that the jewelers were looking for a buyer for the necklace, she devised a plan to buy it because she saw it as the perfect opportunity for her to advance financially and socially.
• Cardinal Louis de Rohan, who had lost the queen's favor and was eager to make amends, was one of her acquaintances.
• Jeanne tricked the cardinal into writing to the queen in 1784 by persuading him that she enjoyed Marie Antoinette's favor.
• Rétaux de Villette, a collaborator of De la Motte, forged responses from "the queen" on gold-edged stationery. De Rohan believed he and the queen were in love after the conversations turned so amorous. Jeanne set up a meeting in the Palace of Versailles gardens after de Rohan made requests for the two to get together. She hired a prostitute to pose as Marie Antoinette. After earning his confidence, Jeanne told de Rohan that the queen wanted to purchase the diamond necklace but was unable to do so because it would draw attention at a time when many people in Paris were going hungry.
• The jewelers gave De Rohan the necklace, and he agreed to pay the price in installments.

Exposed Fraud

• The jewelers complained to Marie Antoinette when de Rohan's initial payment was insufficient, but she denied wanting the necklace.
• The scam was finally revealed when De Rohan was brought before the king and queen to defend himself.
• Villette was exiled, the prostitute and the de la Mottes were found guilty, and De Rohan was found not guilty.
• De la Motte was imprisoned, publicly flayed, and brandished with a "V" for voleuse (robber). However, ten months later, he managed to escape.
• The trial ruined the queen's shaky reputation after she was already made the scapegoat for the nation's dire financial situation.
• She was executed eight years later during the French Revolution, and the necklace was never found.

Preying on Vulnerability

• Jeanne de la Motte used a near-perfect confidence ruse to manipulate Cardinal de Rohan, seducing him initially before taking advantage of his neediness, gullibility, and vanity.
• She also made the potentially fatal error of signing the notes from the queen with "Marie Antoinette de France" before asking him for anything.
• Given that he had previously served as the French ambassador to the court of Vienna and would have been knowledgeable in diplomatic protocol, it is possible that the cardinal was unaware of the tradition that French queens signed with their given names only.
• It is more likely that de la Motte's persuasiveness caused the cardinal to become blind.
• He was brought back down to earth by the king, furious that a highranking noble could be duped by such an obvious error.
• Although he was lampooned as a fool, he received popular support; his acquittal was deemed a victory over the unpopular royals.

Related Crimes

• In 1690s, William Chaloner leads a highly successful coin counterfeiting gang in Birmingham and London, England; he is hanged in 1699 for high treason after targeting the Royal Mint.
• In 1923, Lou Blonger, the kingpin of an extensive ring of con men who operated in Denver, Colorado, for more than 25 years, is finally convicted after a famous trial dogged by allegations that Blonger’s associates attempted to bribe members of the jury.