A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

Last week, I wrote about the origins of the rare blue diamond now known as the Hope, and traced its adventures through the end of the eighteenth century, at which point it dropped out of sight. The large deep blue diamond had been discovered in India, purchased by the merchant Tavernier, who in turn sold it to Louis XIV. The king had it cut and faceted, resulting in the gem commonly known as the "French Blue." Louis XV had it set in his jeweled insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, where it remained part of the French Crown jewels, until it was stolen, four months before its next owner, Louis XVI, lost his head in the square outside the very building from which it had been taken.

One theory suggests it was taken to England by one of the men who stole it, another that it was part of a group of the stolen Crown jewels which was used to bribe the Duke of Brunswick to abandon his invasion of France and the rescue of Louis XVI and his family. After that, the trail of the French Blue goes cold, until a large blue diamond surfaces in Regency England …

Continue reading “Did Wellington Save the Hope? — Part Two” →

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

He certainly did save the hope of England, even of Europe, that June day in Belgium, on the battlefield of Waterloo. But the Hope to which I refer is a precious blue diamond, which, thanks to the efforts of the Duke of Wellington, was not lost to history. And shortly after he prevented its misappropriation, it was acquired by the man whose name it bears, even to this day.

The supposed curse which is attributed to the Hope Diamond is fiction. However, the true story of its real-life adventures are so much stranger than the plot of any novel. Now, how this rare blue diamond glittered its way across Europe, through the hands of crowned heads and cut-throats …

Continue reading “Did Wellington Save the Hope? — Part One” →