Tea at Trianon: The Regent Diamond

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, March 4, 2016

The Regent Diamond

From Geri Walton:

A diamond, a whopping 410 carats uncut, was found by a slave in the Kollur mine in India. The slave smuggled it out of the mine: Some say in his rectum and others claim it was placed in a large wound in his leg. Then an English sea captain killed the slave, stole the diamond, and sold it to a merchant in India.

An English merchant named Thomas Pitt bought the diamond from the merchant while in Madras in 1701. Because of Pitt’s ownership, the diamond became known as the Pitt diamond. Pitt cut the diamond into a 141 carat cushion brilliant that was described as “almost round in shape, of a thickness equal to its width, perfectly white, free from all blemish, cloud, or speck of admirable water.”

Pitt attempted to sell the diamond to various European royals, including Louis XIV without success. Eventually, however, it was purchased by Louis XV’s Regent, Philippe II, duc d’Orléans in 1717. The duc was encouraged to purchase it by his friend, the famed memoirist, Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon.

The duc d’Orléans had the diamond set into the crown used at Louis XV’s coronation in 1722. At that time it became known as the Regent Diamond. Later, when Louis XVI was crowned, the monstrous diamond was set into his new crown, and when he wore it, he reputedly cried out in discomfort, “It hurts me!” (Read more.)

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