 The Hortensia | |
| Weight | 21.32 carats (4.264 g) |
|---|---|
| Color | Pale orange-pink |
| Cut | five-sided |
| Country of origin | India |
| Discovered | Unknown |
| Cut by | Unknown |
| Original owner | Louis XIV of France |
| Owner | Louvre |
| Estimated value | Unknown |
The Hortensia diamond was mined in India as one of the Golconda Diamonds, and is part of the French Crown Jewels. It is a 20 carat diamond of pale orange-pink colour, cut into a five-sided shape, and with a "feather" (a fine visible crack) running from its tip to its girdle. [1]
The Hortensia was purchased by King Louis XIV of France in 1643 and was in his custody until 1715. It was stolen in 1792 during the unrest of the French Revolution from the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne in Paris (today the Hôtel de la Marine), where royal art and furniture was stored and administered. It was recovered from an attic in the Parisian district of Les Halles in a bag together with other crown jewels, among them the Regent Diamond. An apocryphal account states that its location was given up in the confession of a man shortly before his execution. [2] It was stolen again in 1830, this time from the Ministry of the Navy, but recovered shortly thereafter. [3]
It acquired its name in the early 1800s from Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte and mother of Napoleon III. Notably Hortense never owned the diamond or even wore it, and it remains a matter of speculation why it was named for her. [4] During the French First Empire, the Hortensia was worn by Napoleon on his epaulette braid. Around 1856, the diamond was set into a headband for the wife of Napoleon III, Empress Eugénie, by court jeweller Christophe-Frédéric Bapst. [5]
In 1887, the Third French Republic sold most crown jewels to quell fears of a royalist coup d'état, from which only jewels of historic significance were exempted. Due to its history, the Hortensia diamond was one of these, alongside the Regent Diamond, the Mazarin diamonds and others. The Hortensia is on display at the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre museum in Paris. [6]
The Koh-i-Noor, also spelled Koh-e-Noor, Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12 g). It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The diamond is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
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Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte was Queen consort of Holland. She was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoléon I as the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. Hortense later married Napoléon I’s brother, Louis Bonaparte, who had been made King of Holland, making her her stepfather’s sister-in-law. She was the mother of Napoléon III, Emperor of the French; Louis II of Holland; and Napoléon Louis Charles Bonaparte who died at the age of four. She also had an illegitimate son, Charles, Duke of Morny, with her lover, the Comte de Flahaut.
The Jewels of the Order of St Patrick, commonly called the Irish Crown Jewels, were the heavily jewelled badge and star created in 1831 for the Grand Master of the Order of St Patrick, an order of knighthood established in 1783 by George III to be an Irish equivalent of the English Order of the Garter and the Scottish Order of the Thistle. The office of Grand Master was held by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
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Vojislav Stanimirović was a Serbian-born American journalist and one-time crime figure, most famous for his leading role in the Vizcaya Heist. He emigrated to the United States in 1952. Stanimirović was also later involved with YACS and the Pink Panthers among Serbian mafia figures. He is the father of Pavle Stanimirović. He died of mesothelioma on June 13, 2022 in Novi Sad, Serbia.
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The Galerie d'Apollon is a large and iconic room of the Louvre Palace, on the first (upper) floor of a wing known as the Petite Galerie. Its current setup was first designed in the 1660s. It has been part of the Louvre Museum since the 1790s, was completed under the lead of Félix Duban in the mid-19th century, and has housed the museum's collection of the French Crown Jewels since 1887.
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