The Diamond necklace scandal occurred in 1785 when a diamond necklace was presented through Madame de Lamotte by Cardinal de Rohan to Marie Antoinette. The cardinal, a profligate churchman, entertained a passion for the queen and the Countess de Lamotte induced him to purchase for the queen a diamond necklace costing 85,000 pounds, which had been made for Madame Dubarry, from a jeweller named Boehmer. The cardinal handed the necklace to the countess, who rather than presenting it to the queen sold it to an English jeweller and pocketed the money. When the time for payment arrived , Boehmer sent his bill to the queen, who denied all knowledge of the matter. The matter went to court, and a trial lasting nine months ensued which caused great scandal. Research Diamond Necklace Scandal
Jacques Necker was a French politician. He was born in 1732 and died in 1804. As finance minister from 1776 to 1781, he attempted reforms, and was dismissed through Queen Marie Antoinette's influence. Recalled in 1788, he persuaded Louis XVI to summon the States General (parliament), which earned him the hatred of the court, and in July 1789 he was banished. The outbreak of the French Revolution with the storming of the Bastille forced his reinstatement, but he resigned in September 1790. Research Jacques Necker
Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan was a French educational writer. She was born in 1752 at Paris and died in 1822. She became reader to the daughters of Louis XV and afterwards gained the favour of Queen Marie Antoinette, and, as lady of the bed-chamber, served that ill-fated sovereign with much fidelity until the events of the Revolution separated them. After the fall of Robespierre Madame Campan established a boarding-school for young ladies at St Germain, which soon acquired a wide reputation. She is chiefly remembered for her interesting memoirs respecting the private life of Marie Antoinette, her Journal of Anecdotes, and her correspondence with Queen Hortense. Research Jeanne Campan
Marie Antoinette was Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Louis XVI of France. She was born in 1755 and died in 1793 when she was executed for treason during the French revolution. The youngest daughter of the Emperor Francis I and of Maria Theresa she was married at the age of fifteen to the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI, but her manners were ill-suited to the French court, and she made many enemies among the highest families by her contempt for its ceremonies, which excited her ridicule. The freedom of her manners, indeed, even after she became queen, was a cause of scandal. The extraordinary affair of the diamond necklace, in which the CardinalLouis de Holian, the great quack Cagliostro, and a certain Countess de Lamotte were the chief actors, tarnished her name, and added force to the calumnies against her. Though it was proved in the examination which she demanded that she had never ordered the necklace, her enemies succeeded in casting a stigma on her, and the credulous people laid every public disaster to her charge.
There is no doubt she had great influence over the king, and that she constantly opposed all measures of reform. The enthusiastic reception given her at the guards' ball at Versailles on the 1st of October, 1789, raised the general indignation to the highest pitch, and was followed in a few days by the insurrection of women, and the attack on Versailles.
When practically prisoners in the Tuileries it was she who advised the flight of the royal family in June, 1791, which ended in their capture and return. On the 10th of August, 1792, she heard her husband's deposition pronounced by the Legislative Assembly, and accompanied him to the prison in the Temple, where she displayed the magnanimity of a heroine and the patient endurance of a martyr. In January, 1793, she parted with her husband who had been condemned by the Convention; in August she was removed to the Conciergerie; and in October she was charged before the revolutionary tribunal with having dissipated the finances, exhausted the treasury, corresponded with the foreign enemies of France, and favoured the domestic foes of the country. She defended herself with firmness, decision, and indignation; and heard the sentence of death pronounced with perfect calmness - a calmness which did not forsake her when the sentence was carried out the following morning. Her son, eight years of age, died shortly afterwards, as was generally believed by poison, and her daughter was suffered to quit France, and afterwards married her cousin the Duke of Angouleme.
Marie Antoinette was renowned for rarely carrying money with her, and rather borrowing money from her associates for which she earned the nickname 'Madame Deficit'. Research Marie Antoinette
Pierre Jean Garrat was a French singer. He was born in 1764 at Ustaritz and died in 1823. He was chosen to give singing lessons to Marie Antoinette. After the outbreak of the revolution he moved to Hamburg and in 1796 was appointed professor of singing at the conservatory of music at Paris. Research Pierre Garat
Abbreviations
Research Diamond Necklace Scandal
