Marie Antoinette’s jewellery goes under the hammer

A pendant owned by France’s pearly queen is the highlight of a stunning collection of royal artefacts

Marie Antoinette's pendant
(Image credit: Sotheby's)

Marie Antoinette was more than just a little fond of pearls. The problem was everybody else knew it. In fact, the Queen of France’s love of jewellery had already landed her in hot water with the people, when, in 1785, she became caught up in the so-called “Affair of the Diamond Necklace”, involving stolen jewels. Never mind that Marie Antoinette was most probably innocent of the scandal – she had been tried and condemned in the court of public opinion, and that was that. Her reputation never recovered and now the French Revolution was coming for her and her family. It was March 1791, and Marie Antoinette was packing her bags.

According to Marie Antoinette’s lady-in-waiting, Madame Campan, the Austrian royal spent an entire evening at the Tuileries Palace in Paris wrapping up her diamonds, rubies and pearls in cotton, and carefully placing them in a wooden chest – no doubt with one ear open to the streets outside her window. The chest went to Brussels, then ruled by her big sister, Maria Christina, for safe-keeping. She and her family headed for the border, only to be spotted before she could get there. She was dragged back to Paris, and executed in 1793.

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