The
French Crown Jewels were the
crownA crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art the crown may be shown being offered to those...
s, orbs, diadems and jewels that were the symbol of royalty and which were worn by many Kings and Queens of France. The set was finally broken up, with most of it sold off in 1885 by the Third French Republic. The surviving French Crown Jewels, principally a set of historic crowns now set with decorated glass, are on display in the
Galerie d'Apollon of the
LouvreThe Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
's premier
museumA museum is a building or institution which houses a collection of artifacts.Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary...
and former royal
palaceA palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome...
, together with the
Regent DiamondIn 1698, a slave found the 410 carat uncut diamond in a Golkonda mine, more specifically Paritala-Kollur Mine in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India and concealed it inside of a large wound in his leg. An English sea captain stole the diamond from the slave after killing him and sold it to an...
, the
SancyThe Sancy, a pale yellow diamond of , was once reputed to have belonged to the Great Moguls of antiquity, but is more likely of Indian origin owing to its cut which is unusual by Western standards....
Diamond and the 105 carat Côte-de-Bretagne red
spinelThe spinels are any of a class of minerals of general formulation A
2+B
23+O
42- which crystallise in the cubic crystal system, with the oxide anions arranged in a cubic close-packed lattice and the cations A and B occupying some or all of the...
, carved into the form of a
dragonDragons are legendary creatures, typically with serpentine or otherwise reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of worldwide cultures.The two most familiar interpretations of dragons are European dragons, derived from various European folk traditions, and the unrelated Oriental dragons, such as...
. In addition, some gemstones and jewels (including the Emerald of Saint Louis
http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/foffice/tous/tous/GuideDecouverte/lieuxVisiter/LieuxAVisiter/FLieuAVisiter.xsp?i=1&nav=liste&INFO_ID=154&SITE_ID=10&AE_ID=197&LIEU_ID=170&idx=0&MAN_ID=256, the 'Ruspoli' sapphire
http://www.museum-mineral.com/specimens/saphir-mnhn-n-a-67,478.html#http://www.museum-mineral.com/specimens/specimen.php?id=478 and the diamond pins of Queen Marie-Antoinette) are on display in the Treasury vault of the Mineralogy gallery in the French Natural History Museum (Muséum nationale d'histoire naturelle).
Use of the French crown jewels
In contrast with
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
monarchs, French kings were less attached to the ritual use of crown jewels. Nevertheless, all monarchs were crowned until the
French revolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, in the
Notre-Dame de ReimsNotre-Dame de Reims is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned. It replaces an older church, destroyed by a fire in 1211, which was built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, in AD 496. That original...
cathedral (apart for two of them, who were crowned elsewhere). After the revolution, only Emperor
Napoleon INapoleon Bonaparte later known as Napoleon I, and previously Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence...
,
Empress JosephineJoséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Through her daughter, Hortense, she was the maternal grandmother of Napoléon III...
and King
Charles XCharles X ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. His short rule of almost six years came to an end when he instituted his July Ordinances in July 1830, suspending most of the liberties granted in the Charter of 1814...
were crowned. Though not always used, a set of expensive crown jewels did exist and was added to by various monarchs.
Famous diamonds
Among the most famous diamonds in the collection were the
SancyThe Sancy, a pale yellow diamond of , was once reputed to have belonged to the Great Moguls of antiquity, but is more likely of Indian origin owing to its cut which is unusual by Western standards....
Diamond, which once had been part of the pre-Commonwealth Crown Jewels of England, the Royal French Blue, and the
Regent DiamondIn 1698, a slave found the 410 carat uncut diamond in a Golkonda mine, more specifically Paritala-Kollur Mine in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India and concealed it inside of a large wound in his leg. An English sea captain stole the diamond from the slave after killing him and sold it to an...
. The treatment of the Regent Diamond epitomised the attitude of the French Royal Family to the Crown Jewels. While the Regent Diamond was the centrepiece of the King
Louis XVLouis XV ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death on 10 May 1774...
crown, and worn by him at his coronation in February 1723,
Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette ; was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I....
, wife of
Louis XVILouis XVI of France ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792, he was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of treason, and executed by guillotine on 21...
, wore it in a black velvet hat.
Louis XV had the Regent Diamond set in the lower part of the
fleur-de-lisThe fleur-de-lis is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
in the front of his crown, while eight of the famous Mazarin diamonds that the cardinal had bequeath to the French Crown are set in the other seven fleur-de-lis and in the circlet of the crown. Diamonds and colored gemstones are set between two rows of pearls on the circlet and are also set into the four arches that rise behind the fleur-de-lis and the eight ornamental points between the fleur-de-lis. At the junction of these four arches is a small pedestal surrounded by two rows of small diamonds on either side of a row of small pearls. Eight larger diamonds set between this pedestal and the arches give the effect of a sunburst when the crown is viewed from above. On the pedestal rises a double fleur-de-lis formed of nine large diamonds, including the Sancy Diamond which forms the central upper petal of this double fleur-de-lis. The gold brocade cap which lines the crown is also ornamented with large diamonds.
Previous to the making of this crown the crowns of French kings had not contained many or valuable precious stones, since it was traditional for a French king to bequeath his crown to the treasury of the Abbey, now Basilica of St Denis on their deaths. This crown was also bequeath to Saint Denis on the death of Louis XV, but not before the diamonds had been replaced with crystals and it is on display presently in the Louvre similarly set with crystals.
King's sword
The sword used during the coronation of the kings of France is displayed at the Louvre museum, apart from the crown jewels. According to legend it is "
JoyeuseJoyeuse was the name of Charlemagne's personal sword. The name translates as "joyful". Some legends claim that it was forged to contain the Lance of Longinus within its pommel; others state it was supposedly smithed from the same materials as Roland's Durendal and Ogier's Curtana.The 11th century...
"
http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_image.jsp;jsessionid=KWCxmhB23hhsBcfxW2PFJ1VxLCc2R8FDyzPjhmQpVr8PscX37P2w!1736489905?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673477491&CURRENT_LLV_ILLUSTRATION%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673477491&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226044&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500857&bmLocale=en&&newWidth680&&newHeight
1011http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226044&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226044&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500909&baseIndex=10&bmLocale=en Charlemagne's sword. Its unusual build and ornamentation make it difficult to date, but the parts probably date to the 10th to 13th century. Some believe it might be much older, even manufactured before
CharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe...
's reign.
The coronation swords of Napoleon I and Charles X also were preserved in the Louvre museum, although the latter was recently stolen.
Sceptre of Charles V and Main de Justice
One of the few surviving pieces of the medieval French crown jewels is the Sceptre Charles V had made for the future coronation of his son, Charles VI, currently on display in the Louvre . It is over five feet long and at the top is a lily supporting a small statuette of Charlemagne. This evocation of Charlemagne may also explain why this sceptre was included in the imperial regalia of Napoleon I.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ingres,_Napoleon_on_his_Imperial_throne.jpg
A uniquely French type of sceptre is the
Main de Justice (Hand of Justice), which has as its
finialThe finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed to decoratively emphasize the apex of a gable, or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain...
an ivory
Hand of GodThe Hand of God, or Manus Dei in Latin, is a motif in Jewish and Christian art, especially of the Late Antique and Early Medieval periods, when depiction of Jehovah or God the Father as a full human figure was considered unacceptable...
in a blessing gesture. Only the ivory finial itself appears to be medieval; the present golden rod which it terminates was probably made for either the coronation of Napoleon I
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Ingres%2C_Napoleon_on_his_Imperial_throne.jpg or that of Charles X.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Charles_X_In_1829.jpg The camoes and other medieval gemstones which surround the junction of the finial and the rod represent a deliberate nineteenth century anachronism.
Theft of the crown jewels during the revolution
The Crown Jewels were stolen in 1792 when the
Garde Meuble (Royal Treasury) was stormed by rioters. Most, though not all, of the Crown Jewels were recovered eventually. Neither the
SancyThe Sancy, a pale yellow diamond of , was once reputed to have belonged to the Great Moguls of antiquity, but is more likely of Indian origin owing to its cut which is unusual by Western standards....
Diamond nor the French Blue Diamond were found in the years after, however. The Royal French Blue is believed to have been recut, and it is now known as the
Hope DiamondThe Hope Diamond is a large, , deep-blue diamond, housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. The Hope Diamond is blue to the naked eye because of trace amounts of boron within its crystal structure, but it exhibits red phosphorescence under ultraviolet light...
.
The Hope is famously alleged to have been surrounded by bad luck. Marie Antoinette who supposedly wore it was beheaded (in fact, it was actually worn by her husband, Louis XVI). Other owners and their families experienced suicides, marriage break-ups, bankruptcy, deaths in car crashes, falls off cliffs, revolutions, mental breakdowns, and deaths through drug overdoses. It was even tangentially associated with the case of the murdered
Lindbergh babyThe kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey on the evening of March 1, 1932. Over two months...
, when its then owner, silver heiress
Evalyn Walsh McLeanEvalyn Walsh McLean was an American mining heiress and socialite who was famous for being the last private owner of the Hope Diamond as well as another famous diamond, the Star of the East...
,
pawnA pawn is a peon, or other powerless person. It is often a word used to describe someone or something that is used or manipulated.It can also refer to:* Pawn , the weakest and most numerous piece in the game...
ed it to raise money that she ended up paying to a con-man unconnected with the actual kidnap. Most modern historians view the tales of a curse on the Hope to be spurious; the first mention of such tales is documented to 1908. Pierre Cartier, the Parisian jeweler, is widely credited with publicizing the stories of a curse on the diamond in hopes of increasing its saleability. Since 1958, it has been in the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
, where it is the single most-viewed object in the Smithsonian's collection.
The Crown Jewels were augmented by jewels added by
Napoleon INapoleon Bonaparte later known as Napoleon I, and previously Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence...
and
Napoleon IIINapoleon III , Charles-Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, was the first President of the French Republic and the last monarch of France. He was also Napoleon I's nephew. Made president by popular vote in 1848, Napoleon III ascended to the throne on 2 December 1852, the forty-eighth anniversary of Napoleon...
along with their empresses.
Last coronation
The last French coronation occurred in 1824 when King
Charles XCharles X ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. His short rule of almost six years came to an end when he instituted his July Ordinances in July 1830, suspending most of the liberties granted in the Charter of 1814...
was crowned at
ReimsThe city of Rheims , in English and in French, lies in the Champagne-Ardenne region in north-eastern France 129 km east-northeast of Paris....
. The scale of the coronation was seen by critics to indicate a return to the absolutism of the
ancien regimeAncien Régime refers primarily to the aristocratic, social, and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties...
that had been ended by the Revolution of 1830.Some historians suggest that the very grandeur of the ceremony marked the beginning of the end for the Bourbon monarchy, with Charles's image as an old style monarch falling out of favour with the French public, who had much preferred the low-key monarchy of his brother,
Louis XVIIILouis XVIII , Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, was King of France and Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815. Louis XVIII spent twenty-three years in exile, from 1791 to 1814, due to the French Revolution, and was exiled again in 1815, upon the return of Napoleon Bonaparte...
. Louis Phillipe of France, the last King of France, was not crowned, and neither was Napoleon III, the last Emperor. Napoleon III's consort,
Eugénie de MontijoEugénie de Montijo was the 18th Marchioness of Ardales, 18th Marchioness of Moya, 19th Countess of Teba, 10th Countess of Montijo and Countess of Ablitas...
, however, did have a
CrownThe Crown of Empress Eugénie was the consort crown of Eugénie de Montijo, the empress consort of Emperor Napoleon III of France. Though neither she nor her husband underwent a coronation a consort crown was specially created for her....
made for her, though it was never used in an official coronation.
Break-up and sale of the French crown jewels
Throughout the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the jewels survived the First French Republic, the
DirectorateThe Executive Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
, the First Empire, the Restoration, the
July MonarchyThe July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of the French , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
, the Second French Republic and the
Second EmpireIn the United States, the Second Empire style usually combined a rectangular tower, or similar element, with a steep, but short, mansard roof; the roof being the most noteworthy link to the style’s French roots. This tower element could be of equal height as the highest floor, or could exceed the...
. However, the decision of
Henri, Comte de ChambordHenri V of France and Navarre , best known by his title comte de Chambord was Duke of Bordeaux and Count of Chambord, was disputedly King of France and Navarre from 2–9 August 1830 and afterwards the Legitimist pretender to the throne of France from 1844 to 1883.Henri...
not to accept the French Crown in the early 1870s ended not just the prospect of a royal restoration. It also led to the break-up and partial sale of the Crown Jewels.
In 1875 the Third French Republic came into being with the passage of a series of Organic Laws (collectively forming a constitution). The interim presidency was replaced by a full "President of the Republic".
While few expected a royal restoration, certainly after the failure of the
Seize Mai attempted royalist coup by President
Patrice MacMahon, duc de MagentaMarie Edme Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duc de Magenta, Marshal of France was a French general and politician...
, the continuing agitation of extreme right wing royalists, and the fear of a royalist
coup d'état, led radical deputies to propose the sale of the Crown Jewels, in the hope that their dispersal would undermine the royalist cause: "
Without a crown, no need for a king" in the words of one member of the National Assembly. This controversial decision was implemented. All the jewels from the Crown Jewels were removed and sold, as were many of the crowns, diadems, rings and other items. Only a few of the crowns were kept for historic reasons, but with their original diamonds and gems replaced by coloured glass. Some historic or unusual gems went to French museums, including the corsage brooch containing some of the 'Mazarin diamonds'
http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=11327, which is now in the Louvre, and the 'Ruspoli' sapphire, which is now in the French Natural History Museum (curators took advantage of its unusual rhombohedral faceted shape and asked for it to be exempted from the sale, falsely claiming that it was a natural, uncut crystal).
Most recent royal ceremony in France: The funeral of Louis XVII in 2004
One of the mysteries of the French Revolution was the question of what had happened to the Dauphin, the
heir apparentAn heir apparent is an heir who cannot be displaced from inheriting.An heir presumptive, by contrast, is an heir currently in line to inherit a title, but who could be displaced at any time by certain events.Today these terms most commonly describe heirs to hereditary titles, particularly monarchies...
of King Louis XVI, after the execution of the King and Queen. Though it was generally believed that he had died in prison, popular legend had spoken of the young prince being spirited away from his prison and living in exile.
In 2004, however it was finally confirmed that the legend was fictitious. In reality Louis XVI's son, Louis Charles, called the young prince by some, and King
Louis XVII of FranceLouis XVII of France, also Louis VI of Navarre , from birth to 1789 known as Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy; then from 1789 to 1791 as Louis-Charles, Dauphin of Viennois; and from 1791 to 1793 as Louis-Charles, Prince Royal of France, was the son of King Louis XVI of France and Maria Antonia of...
by royalist supporters following his father's death, had died of
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
in prison. The fact of his death was established using
DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information...
evidence. The
heartThe heart is a muscular organ found in all vertebrates that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
of the young man claimed by the royalists to be the young Louis XVII had been secretly removed by a doctor just after his death. By comparing the DNA from the heart with DNA taken from strands of hair of
Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette ; was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I....
that had been kept as a memento by royalists, it was possible to establish that the boy who died in prison was indeed the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette; the above mentioned heir to the crown of Louis XVI.
The formal funeral for Louis XVII finally took place, albeit with his heart, not his body, in 2004. For the first time in over a century a royal ceremony took place in France, complete with the
fleur-de-lisThe fleur-de-lis is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
standard and a royal crown.