The Necklace Affair: A Scandal that Hastened the Fall of the Monarchy
The Queen's necklace affair remains one of the most sensational scandals of the Ancien Régime. This audacious swindle, which broke out in 1785, irreparably tarnished the reputation of Marie-Antoinette and helped fuel the popular hatred that would lead to the French Revolution four years later.
The Diamond Necklace: An Extraordinary Jewel
It all began with an exceptional necklace created by the Parisian jewelers Boehmer and Bassenge. Composed of 647 diamonds weighing 2,800 carats, this masterpiece of jewelry was intended for Louis XV’s mistress, Madame du Barry. But the king’s death in 1774 left the jewelers with this unsold jewel of colossal value: 1.6 million livres, equivalent to several million euros today.
The jewelers repeatedly tried to sell the necklace to Marie-Antoinette, but the queen consistently refused, considering the price exorbitant and preferring that the money be devoted to the royal navy.
The Main Characters of the Swindle
Jeanne de la Motte-Valois: The Manipulator
Jeanne de la Motte claimed to be an illegitimate descendant of the royal house of Valois. Ambitious and unscrupulous, she lived on the margins of the court at Versailles, desperately seeking to enrich herself and rise socially. She conceived and orchestrated the entire swindle.
Cardinal de Rohan: The Prestigious Dupe
Louis René Édouard de Rohan, cardinal and grand almoner of France, was a vain and naive man. Disgraced by Marie-Antoinette since his embassy to Vienna where he had offended her mother, Empress Maria Theresa, he desperately sought to regain the queen’s favor.
Count of Cagliostro: The Occultist
Giuseppe Balsamo, known as Count of Cagliostro, was an Italian adventurer reputed for his occult and alchemical practices. A friend of Cardinal de Rohan, he played a shady role in the affair, encouraging the cardinal in his illusions.
The Course of the Swindle
Jeanne de la Motte convinced Cardinal de Rohan that she was a close friend of Marie-Antoinette and that she could intercede on his behalf. She forged false letters supposedly written by the queen, in which she expressed her forgiveness and desire to reconcile with the cardinal.
The climax of the manipulation was a nighttime meeting arranged in the gardens of Versailles in August 1784. In the darkness, the cardinal met a woman he believed to be Marie-Antoinette – in reality a prostitute named Nicole Leguay d'Oliva, chosen for her resemblance to the queen.
Comforted in his illusions, the cardinal agreed to act as intermediary when Jeanne told him that the queen wished to secretly acquire the famous necklace. In January 1785, Rohan signed the purchase of the necklace in the queen’s name, committing to pay in several installments.
The necklace was handed over to a supposed valet of the queen – in reality Jeanne’s accomplice and lover, Rétaux de Villette. The jewel was immediately dismantled and the diamonds sold in London and elsewhere in Europe.
The Outbreak of the Scandal
When the first payment installment arrived in July 1785, the jewelers came to Versailles to claim their due. Marie-Antoinette was stunned to discover the existence of this transaction of which she knew nothing. The scandal broke publicly on August 15, 1785, the day of the Assumption, when Cardinal de Rohan was arrested in the middle of a ceremony at Versailles, dressed in pontifical robes.
The Trial and Its Consequences
The trial before the Parliament of Paris captivated all of Europe. Louis XVI, against Marie-Antoinette’s advice, insisted that the affair be judged publicly to clear the queen’s honor. This was a major strategic error.
In May 1786, Cardinal de Rohan was acquitted, the Parliament considering that he had been the victim of a swindle. Jeanne de la Motte was sentenced to be whipped, branded with a hot iron, and imprisoned for life at the Salpêtrière. She managed to escape in 1787 and took refuge in London where she published defamatory memoirs against Marie-Antoinette.
The Impact on Marie-Antoinette
Although innocent, Marie-Antoinette emerged dishonored from this affair. The cardinal’s acquittal was seen as a repudiation of the queen by the Parliament. Pamphlets and libels multiplied, accusing Marie-Antoinette of all vices: excessive spending, scandalous affairs, manipulation of the king.
The necklace affair crystallized popular hatred against "the Austrian." It helped create the image of a frivolous, spendthrift, and immoral queen that would persist until the Revolution. Yet, Marie-Antoinette was completely innocent of this swindle – she was its collateral victim.
Marie-Antoinette of Lorraine
What is often forgotten is that Marie-Antoinette was not only "the Austrian" as her detractors called her. Through her father Francis of Lorraine, who became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire under the name Francis I, she was as much Lorraine as Austrian. Her Lorraine heritage, though less known, was an integral part of her identity.
The necklace affair tragically illustrates how a foreign queen, unloved and misunderstood, could become the scapegoat for all the kingdom’s ills, thus preparing the ground for the revolutionary upheavals to come.
Conclusion
The Queen’s necklace affair remains a fascinating example of audacious swindle and psychological manipulation. More than that, it shows how a scandal can destroy a reputation and shake the foundations of a monarchy. For Marie-Antoinette, this affair marked the beginning of the end, transforming the image of a Queen of France into that of a symbol of decadence that would haunt the monarchy until its fall.
📖 To learn more about Marie-Antoinette:
Discover History of Marie-Antoinette Queen of France by J.-J.-E. Roy, a comprehensive biography of the last Queen of France, including detailed information on the Necklace Affair and her tragic fate.
Available in digital format (immediate download) and print (print on demand with free delivery).