The Napoleon Diamond Necklace: From Empress Marie Louise to the Smithsonian

Created for Napoleon's second wife, this spectacular diamond necklace has passed from Empress Marie Louise to her relatives in Austria, a French entrepreneur, an American collector, and now enchants millions of viewers every year at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The necklace's story begins in France, when Empress Marie Louise gave birth to Napoleon's son in 1811. With 234 diamonds weighing an estimated 263 carats, it symbolizes Napoleon's relief and gratitude at having secured his dynasty with an heir.

But just four years later, Napoleon's empire collapsed and Marie Louise took this necklace with her when she left Paris. She kept it with her in Austria and then in Parma, where she ruled as duchess. Years later, she bequeathed it to her sister-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, mother of the future emperor Franz Josef.

The necklace remained with the Austrian imperial family until shortly after the death of Sophie's daughter-in-law, Archduchess Maria Theresa (born an Infanta of Portugal). I hope you enjoy getting a glimpse of Maria Theresa here - like Sophie, she deserves more research and a video of her own.

After she passed away in 1944, her son-in-law, Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein, offered the necklace for sale. It was snapped up by a French entrepreneur and collector, Jean-Louis Weiller, and later passed to jeweler Harry Winston, who sold it in turn to the American businesswoman and collector Marjorie Merriweather Post. This necklace was one of several royal treasures Marjorie donated to the Smithsonian in the 1960s. Today, you can go see it for yourself at the Museum of Natural History.

In this video, we'll trace the entire history of the necklace and spend a few minutes with each owner to trace its journey through time.

Love footnotes and sources? See 'em here: https://girlinthetiara.com/the....-napoleon-diamond-ne

#royalhistory #royaljewels #napoleondiamondnecklace #smithsonian #famousjewels

🎉 Huge shout-out to my channel member, Gerry Maccartney!

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🔖Chapters
0:0:00 Introduction
0:2:10 Empress Marie Louise
0:11:58 Archduchess Sophie
0:20:14 Archduke Karl Ludwig
0:24:00 Archduchess Maria Theresa
0:34:26 For Sale By Owner
0:48:32 Archduchesses Maria Annunziata & Elisabeth Amalie
0:55:55 Paul-Louis Weiller
0:58:45 Harry Winston
0:59:46 Marjorie Merriweather Post
1:12:27 Today: The Smithsonian Institute
1:13:26 Thanks for Watching: Please Subscribe & Consider Joining
1:14:17 Member Shout-Out
1:14:26 Credits

📚 Sources
Highly recommended:
(1) The Assassination of the Archduke by Greg King & Sue Woolmans: https://amzn.to/2TCD0Mb
(2) Hitler and the Habsburgs by James Longo: https://amzn.to/3Guy1GE
(3) Napoleon and Marie Louise by Alan Palmer: https://amzn.to/4itXVYh
(4) Napoleon’s Other Wife by Deborah Jay: https://amzn.to/2FVgQLN
(5) The Smithsonian National Gem Collection – Unearthed: Surprising Stories Behind the Jewels by Jeffrey Edward Post: https://amzn.to/3Gsl409
(6) American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post by Nancy Rubin (Stuart): https://amzn.to/4iBw48K

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👑 ABOUT THE CHANNEL

I tell stories about fascinating royal women. Join me as I follow these women and their jewels across generations and countries, through wars and revolutions and — sometimes — into darkness and disappearance and destruction. My goal is to tell all these stories with humor and heart and a boatload of compassion for these amazing royal women.

👧🏻 ABOUT ME
I never intended to start a channel or a website about royal history. But a midlife crisis forced me to re-examine my life. I gave up fiction writing after self-publishing 9 of the 10 books I'd written and earning next to nothing.

Instead of the misery of marketing books, I turned to my first love...royal history. So here I am, a 40-something burnout, trying to start over by recapturing her love of history, royal women, and their jewels. And guess what? I found out there are plenty of other people who love the same topic. It gave me a renewed sense of love for writing, history, and creativity. Thank you for being here with me to geek out over royal history!