Reflection to the diamond necklace

Answer 1

Comtesse de Lamotte-Valois was a common woman, though she was a descendant of the Valois family, a family that had once been the Royal family of France, but were replaced by the Bourbons (the family that was now on the throne and Marie Antoinette was a direct descendant from this family (her great-grandfather being Louis XIV). She always held a grudge against the Bourbons because she felt that her family should have stayed Royal instead of the Bourbons. Also, she was very poor and wanted the Royal family to support her because of her Royal blood.

She and her lover (she had a husband but also several lovers) Retaux de Villette (a master forger) made a plan. They had heard of the jewellers Boehmer and Bassenge who made a gorgeous necklace especially for Madame du Barry, but she had left Versailles due to the death of Louis XV before they had the chance to present it to her. Now they wanted Marie Antoinette to buy it, but she had refused the necklace for 3 times already because she thought it was ugly and she said "I already have enough diamonds".

The jewellers therefore where desperate to sell the necklace worth 1.6 million Francs. Rétaux de Villette was a master forger and wrote letters from 'the Queen' to the "comtesse". She stated that she wanted the necklace, but was aware of the reluctance of the King to buy it due to the current dismal financial situation of the country. She hoped that the Cardinal Prince Louis de Rohan (a man the Queen hated)could lend her the money, and she would grant him the stipend he wished for. Jeanne de la Motte was named as the Queen's agent. The Cardinal, so happy that the Queen finally seemed to trust him enough to do this for her, believed these letters to be authentic (although the autograph was very foolish and could never have been the Queen's) and agreed to buy the necklace for the Queen. A late night rendezvous was arranged, where the Cardinal met 'the Queen' (in reality a prostitute who resembled her, called Nicole le Guay d'Oliva) and received forgiveness. The jeweler was contacted and asked to bring the necklace. The necklace was given to Jeanne de la Motte to pass on to the Queen. This of course never happened, her husband promptly began selling the diamonds in Paris and London.

Because the Queen kept ignoring the Cardinal, and the jewellers came to the Queen for money, the whole scheme was over. The Cardinal and the comtesse were arrested, though, because the Queen's reputation was already down the drain and people actually believed that she spent loads of money, they thought this story was probably true also, and even though there was more than enough evidence against the cardinal, he was acquitted. The comtesse was branded with the letter V on one of her breasts (V for Voleuse, which means 'thief'). The branding was intended to be placed on her shoulder, but she fought her torturer so heavily, the hot iron landed on one of her breasts. She escaped out of prison dressed as a boy (she probably got help from Revolutionist prison guards) and fled to England where she spend the rest of her life spreading pamphlets against the Queen. The queen was blamed for everything eventhough she had nothing to do with it all.