In 1785, a plot succeeds in making Marie-Antoinette pass for the thief of an extremely expensive necklace… In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of history", Jean des Cars tells how this manipulation and its bad management participated in bringing the monarchy into disrepute.
Queen Marie-Antoinette, very unpopular, was the victim of a fraud in 1785. She becomes, wrongly, the ideal culprit of the theft of a jewel worth 1.8 million pounds ... In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of history", Jean des Cars looks back on the underside of this dark fraud affair.
On July 2, 1785, Marie-Antoinette was in a good mood. She is rehearsing Beaumarchais' play "The Barber of Seville" in the marvelous little blue and gold theater in Trianon, built for her by its architect Richard Mique five years earlier. The Queen had been deprived of the pleasures of the theater by her third pregnancy. After her daughter Marie-Thérèse, nicknamed Mousseline, in 1778, and the Dauphin Louis-Joseph in 1781, she gave birth to Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy, in March 1785. Delivery of her diapers, she reconstituted her theatrical troupe, known as "the troop of the lords", for "The barber of Seville". The premiere is scheduled to take place on August 19. Marie-Antoinette plays Rosine, her brother-in-law the Comte d'Artois plays Figaro, the Duc de Guiche, son-in-law of Mme de Polignac, plays Bartholo and M.by Crussol Bazile. It is Vaudreuil, a close friend of the Queen, who plays the role of Count Almaviva.
But that morning, Boehmer, the court jeweler, was announced.
He gives the Queen, on behalf of the King, an epaulet and diamond earrings.
A precious gift.
While giving it the case, the jeweler discreetly passes a letter to the Queen.
She wants to question him but he's already left.
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Marie-Antoinette then opens this post: "Madam, we are delighted to dare to think that the last arrangements which have been proposed to us, and to which we have submitted ourselves with zeal and respect, are further proof of our submission and dedication to the orders of Your Majesty. And we have real satisfaction to think that the finest set of diamonds that exists will serve the greatest and the best of Queens ".
Marie-Antoinette understands nothing of the jeweler's writings.
What is it about ?
Does Boehmer dare to offer her once again to buy the extraordinary necklace that she refused, as well as the King, already twice!
The Queen is annoyed, eager to resume rehearsals.
Recklessly, she burns the letter with a candle, as she would with an unimportant placet.
Marie-Antoinette is wrong: it is indeed this necklace that it is and Boehmer believes that she already has it in her possession.
By her gesture, Marie-Antoinette will waste time.
She should have brought Boehmer back to question him.
The Queen is the victim of a terrible scam but she does not know it yet.
To understand it, we have to go back four years.
Cardinal de Rohan meets Mme de La Motte
In September 1781, two coaches met on the road from Strasbourg to Saverne. In the first, is Prince Cardinal Louis de Rohan, Bishop of Strasbourg, Grand Chaplain of France, member of the French Academy, renowned for his debauchery. He belongs to the powerful lineage of Rohan Soubise, one of the oldest and most illustrious families in France. In the other coach, is the Marquise de Boulainvilliers and a small blond young woman with blue eyes. The cardinal recognizes Mme de Boulainvilliers, a longtime friend. The two coaches stop. Cardinal de Rohan bows before the Marchioness, who introduces him to the young woman, Mme de La Motte. The cardinal, finding this person to his liking, invites the two women to his home, to the castle of Saverne.Louis de Rohan therefore got to know the charming Madame de La Motte better. His life is a real novel. She is descended from a bastard of Henry II, but for years her family has fallen into poverty. The young woman begged on the roads from the age of 8. She owes her salvation only to her meeting with Mme de Boulainvilliers. This one, touched by its history, nevertheless made verify the authenticity of its genealogy. She takes it in, adopts it before placing it in a convent where she will receive a good education. In 1780, she married a King's Gendarme, named Nicolas de La Motte, from the Champagne gentry, rather penniless. As soon as they were married, the couple changed their name to Count and Countess of La Motte-Valois.She is descended from a bastard of Henry II, but for years her family has fallen into poverty. The young woman begged on the roads from the age of 8. She owes her salvation only to her meeting with Mme de Boulainvilliers. This one, touched by its history, nevertheless made verify the authenticity of its genealogy. She takes it in, adopts it before placing it in a convent where she will receive a good education. In 1780, she married a King's Gendarme, named Nicolas de La Motte, from the Champagne gentry, rather penniless. As soon as they were married, the couple changed their name to Count and Countess of La Motte-Valois.She is descended from a bastard of Henry II, but for years her family has fallen into poverty. The young woman begged on the roads from the age of 8. She owes her salvation only to her meeting with Mme de Boulainvilliers. This one, touched by its history, nevertheless made verify the authenticity of its genealogy. She takes it in, adopts it before placing it in a convent where she will receive a good education. In 1780, she married a King's Gendarme, named Nicolas de La Motte, from the Champagne gentry, rather penniless. As soon as they were married, the couple changed their name to Count and Countess of La Motte-Valois.nevertheless had the authenticity of his genealogy verified. She takes it in, adopts it before placing it in a convent where she will receive a good education. In 1780, she married a King's Gendarme, named Nicolas de La Motte, from the Champagne gentry, rather penniless. As soon as they were married, the couple changed their name to Count and Countess of La Motte-Valois.nevertheless had the authenticity of his genealogy verified. She takes it in, adopts it before placing it in a convent where she will receive a good education. In 1780, she married a King's Gendarme, named Nicolas de La Motte, from the Champagne gentry, rather penniless. As soon as they were married, the couple changed their name to Count and Countess of La Motte-Valois.
This story amuses Cardinal de Rohan. If he did not tell his own life to Jeanne, she is known throughout France. This worldly ecclesiastic, who exercises important offices, is, in fact, a great debauchery. It was when he was Ambassador to Vienna that he totally ruined his reputation. Marie-Antoinette's mother, Empress Marie Thérèse, had been horribly shocked by his conduct. One day, returning from a hunting trip, he had let himself roll in a ditch with two ladies. He was also terribly gossip and scandalized Austrians with his gossip. In the salons of Vienna, he even allowed himself to question the virtue of Dauphine Marie-Antoinette!
Baron de Besenval, close to the Queen, explains: "It is necessary that we be informed of the deep hatred which the Queen had against the cardinal and which he had so justly deserved, filling during his embassy in Vienna his letters of insulting things against her ... She has never forgiven him, as it is easy to believe ".
The cardinal will take the La Motte couple under his protection.
He even obtains for the husband a post of bodyguard of Monsieur, the count of Provence, brother of the King.
Joan quickly guesses the prelate's ambitions.
He aspires to recognition and higher office.
He dreams of being Prime Minister of the King but his disgrace with the Queen leaves him no hope ...
So, from 1784, Jeanne de La Motte, a keen flyer, will make the cardinal believe that she is in great favor with her "dear friend" the Queen and that she will do everything to rehabilitate him in public opinion. of the sovereign ...
The Intrigues of Madame de La Motte
In the spring of 1784, Mme de La Motte brought the cardinal a letter supposed to come from the Queen but which, in reality, was written at her dictation by her lover, a forger named Retaux de Villette.
It is a very encouraging first letter: "I am delighted not to find you guilty any more. I cannot grant you the audience which you wish yet. When the circumstances allow it, I will let you warn. Be discreet".
Subsequently, Mme de La Motte had other notes written by the same forger, which were also supposed to be in the hands of the Queen. The cardinal is impatiently watching for new missives. He keeps them all preciously in a red wallet. By the way, Jeanne de La Motte benefited greatly from this correspondence since in certain notes, the Queen asked the cardinal for money for her alms, then increasingly large sums, in particular twice 70,000 pounds. The prelate complied immediately, giving the sum to Jeanne de La Motte who made the best use of it for her and her husband. They buy, in particular, a house in Bar-sur-Aube. The cardinal is convinced that if the Queen asks him for money, it is because he has really returned to favor ... However, he begins to get impatient,wondering when the Queen will finally grant him a first audience ...
Never mind !
Mme de La Motte will fix that!
The cardinal believes he meets the Queen, at night, in the park of Versailles ...
The secret interview
Cornered, Mme de La Motte had a new note written by her forger. This time, the Queen will grant the cardinal a secret interview on August 11, 1784, at 11 o'clock in the evening in the Bosquet de Venus, a stone's throw from the Orangery of the Palace of Versailles. Now it's a matter of finding someone who looks like the Queen in both size and appearance and facial features. It is M. de La Motte who is in charge of this delicate mission. He goes to the Jardin du Palais Royal. Every evening, he walks along the galleries. There are many women with light morals: their number is estimated at 600! It is in the midst of this swarm of pretty women that M. de La Motte notices a person whose features recall those of the Queen. She is a milliner by trade, but occasionally she sells her charms. Her name is Nicole Leguay. Mr.de La Motte tests her then he tells her that a great lady of his friends is going to come and see her. The same evening, Mme de La Motte came to Nicole Leguay's house, showed her some false letters signed by Marie-Antoinette. Mme de La Motte tells the young woman that she has all the confidence of the Queen. She's the one who asked him to find someone who looks like her and who can do something that will be explained to her in due course. She will receive a large sum, 15,000 pounds. Obviously, faced with such a windfall, Nicole accepts.She's the one who asked him to find someone who looks like her and who can do something that will be explained to her in due course. She will receive a large sum, 15,000 pounds. Obviously, faced with such a windfall, Nicole accepts.She's the one who asked him to find someone who looks like her and who can do something that will be explained to her in due course. She will receive a large sum, 15,000 pounds. Obviously, faced with such a windfall, Nicole accepts.
On August 11, Mme de La Motte came to pick up Nicole Leguay. She explains to him that she will have to play the role of the Queen. She will simply give a man, who will come before her, a letter and a rose saying: "You know what that means ..."
To reassure the young woman, Nicole Leguay tells her that this deception is done with the consent of the Queen who will also be hidden not far away, to attend the scene. She had Nicole put on a simple white gaulette dress like the one the Queen used to wear when she was at Trianon. She powdered her hair and hung up a veil that hid her face a little. M. de La Motte chose well: Nicole Leguay makes a very convincing Marie-Antoinette. She explains to him that from now on, her name is Mademoiselle d'Oliva, which is the anagram of Valois, except for an S. She slips a domino on her shoulders and leads her in the park of Versailles to the Grove of Venus. La Motte and the forger Villette await them on the terraces, hiding in a thicket, ready to intervene in the event of an incident.Madame de La Motte places the Queen's double near a bower in the Grove of Venus, which is now called the Queen's Grove. After a few minutes, a tall, aristocratic-looking man approaches and bows before her. Trembling, she recites her sentence while handing the rose to Cardinal de Rohan. But she forgets the letter!
Mme de La Motte then appears, saying: "Come! Come quickly!", Claiming the imminent arrival of Mesdames the Countesses of Provence and of Artois, the Queen's sisters-in-law.
The La Mottes drive Nicole Leguay back to her car, Rohan also quickly withdraws, convinced that he has met the Queen.
He is delighted!
Jeweler Boehmer seeks to sell the world's most beautiful necklace
In December 1784, Mme de La Motte learned from a friend that the jewelers Boehmer and Bassange, suppliers to the Court, were trying to sell an exceptional necklace. It has been more than ten years since they decided to make the most beautiful set that can be found in Europe to assert their supremacy in the field of jewelry. For several years, they buy the finest and largest diamonds on the market to make a large multi-strand necklace made up of 6,457 diamonds with a total weight of 2,800 carats. It is a so-called “enslaved” necklace comprising two parts: a choker with diamonds as big as hazelnuts from which festoons decorated with pear pendants emerge.The lower part consists of four long ribbons of diamonds, two of which cross on the chest and all of which go down to the waist. It is a spectacular necklace, inevitably intended for a person of very high rank. They are asking for an astronomical sum: 1,800,000 pounds!
By making this masterpiece, the Boehmers thought they would offer it to Louis XV for his favorite Mme du Barry.
But Louis XV died before the necklace was finished.
It was finally done in 1778.
King Louis XVI, dazzled by this masterpiece, is ready to offer it to Marie-Antoinette for the birth of their long-awaited first child.
But the Queen then considers it too expensive and refuses.
The jewelers returned to the charge in 1782 when the Dauphin was born.
France is then engaged in the American war of independence.
The Queen still refuses, saying: "We need more ships than a new jewel".
And then, fashion changed.
The great court dress is more rarely worn.
The Queen, now a mother of two, prefers simpler clothes made for her by Rose Bertin.
Marie-Antoinette wears less jewelry.
The Boehmer are desperate ...
The inability to find a buyer
They have tried to sell their necklace in all the courts of Europe but everyone finds it too expensive.
Boehmer will see the Queen again for the third time.
He threw himself at her feet, begging her, joining his hands and threatening to go and throw himself into the Seine ...
Marie-Antoinette's response is scathing: "Get up Boehmer! ... Honest people do not need to beg on their knees. I refused the necklace. The King wanted to give it to me, I have it. refused again. So never tell me about it. Try to divide it, sell it, and do not drown yourself! "
It was then, on December 29, 1784, that Madame de La Motte came to see the jewelers. Jeanne is dazzled by the necklace and offers them to use her influence with her "friend the Queen" to convince her to acquire it. On returning home, Jeanne de la Motte dictates to Villette a new letter for the cardinal in which the Queen offers him a secret negotiation that Mme de La Motte will explain to him. She arrives at the cardinal with the letter and tells him that the Queen is madly in need of a magnificent necklace that she cannot buy herself but that she has recourse to him to secretly negotiate the affair. Rohan is delighted but still asks his friend Cagliostro for his opinion. After consulting all the oracles, the false mage renders his verdict:the negotiations will be a great success and the cardinal will return to favor with the Queen. You must accept !
On January 29, 1785, Mme de La Motte therefore gave the cardinal the purchase order, still written by the forger Villette and signed "Marie-Antoinette de France", which should have alerted the cardinal because a King or a Queen did not sign only with their first names. Rohan gives the letter to the jewelers and signs the contract. The sum will be settled in two years in installments of 400,000 pounds. The first deadline is set for August 1. As for the necklace, it was delivered on February 1 to Cardinal de Rohan in a precious red morocco case. The prelate immediately went to Versailles, to Mme de la Motte's place to entrust him with the necklace. Jeanne de La Motte assures him that the necklace will be given the same evening to Marie-Antoinette. While the cardinal, very satisfied, returns to Paris, Villette and the La Motte couple begin to cut diamonds.The first are sold off in Paris, the rest sold on the black market in London. In a few days, there were no more diamonds or necklace but a lot of money for the La Mottes.
When Marie-Antoinette discovers the scam ...
When Boehmer came to see the Queen on July 10 at the Théâtre de Trianon, he was convinced of two things: on the one hand, the Queen had been in possession of the necklace since February 1, on the other hand, Cardinal de Rohan was going to pay the first due of 400,000 pounds on August 1.
Having seen nothing coming that day, Bohmer rushed the next day to Mme Campan, the Queen's first chambermaid.
He tells her the whole story.
The Queen bought him the necklace through Cardinal de Rohan.
He has in his possession a purchase treaty duly approved and signed by the Queen.
The first installment has not been paid.
He needs money.
He is distraught.
Very surprised, Madame Campan does not imagine that the Queen could have entrusted any mission to Cardinal de Rohan whom she detests.
Mrs. Campan was nevertheless disturbed but did not tell the Queen about it until five days later.
On August 8, she gives Marie-Antoinette, still in full rehearsal, an explicit letter from the jewelers revealing the deception.
The Queen is appalled!
She does not yet know the details of the case, including the schemes of Madame de La Motte, but she is convinced that Cardinal Rohan tried to compromise her in a serious scheme.
She then asks the jeweler to write a detailed memoir of all that has happened and immediately rushes to the King to inform him of this incredible story.
Now, it is on Cardinal de Rohan that lightning will fall ...
Bibliographic resources:
Hélène Delalex "The affair of the necklace or the genius of the intrigue" in "The great enigmas of history" under the direction of Jean Christian Petitfils, (Perrin / le Figaro Histoire, 2020).
Guy Breton "Love stories from the history of France" (Tome X, Editions Noir et Blanc, 1965).
Evelyne Lever, presentation and comments of the "Correspondance de Marie-Antoinette, 1770-1793" (Tallandier, 2005).
Jean des Cars, "Le Hameau de la Reine" (Flammarion, 2018).
Jean des Cars, "La saga des Reines" (Perrin, 2012).
"At the heart of History" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast
Author and presentation: Jean des Cars
Production: Timothée Magot
Director: Matthieu Blaise
Distribution and editing: Clémence Olivier and Salomé Journo
Graphic design: Karelle Villais