Marie Thèrese of France’s Emerald Tiara

Photo: Wikipedia Commons: I’d love to set this piece of history on my head! If this stunner could talk.

Today I’m featuring a beautiful tiara created for a member of the House of Bourbon who had a sad history. Marie Thèrese Charlotte of France (1778 - 1851) was the oldest and only surviving child of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antionette of France both guillotined when she was 12 years old. After France’s Reign of Terror she was isolated and held prisoner for another 5 years until her release was negotiated. She went to live in exile in Austria, her Habsburg-Lorraine mother’s native country. As France headed towards revolution, Queen Marie Antionette had sent some of her jewelry to Austria for safekeeping, and these pieces were returned to her daughter after she arrived in Vienna.

In 1799 Marie Thèrese was persuaded to enter a political marriage with her cousin, Louis Antoine, the Duke of Angouème so she became the Duchess of Angouème. The Emerald and Diamond Tiara of Marie Thèrese is sometimes called The Duchess of Angouème Emerald Tiara. It was made by jewelers Evrard and Frederic Bapst in 1819 - 1820 using stones from the French Crown Jewels. The tiara features a symmetrical scrolling design with 40 emeralds set in gold and 1,031 diamonds set in silver. Fourteen of the emeralds are large ones!

For a period of time the Bourbon monarchy was restored. Louis XVI’s two younger brothers sat on the throne with Marie Thèrese returning to France, but in 1830 she was forced into exile again. She made the crazy decision to leave her tiara behind. Later it was worn by Empress Eugènie whose husband, Napoleon III, ruled (1852 - 1870) sizing power as Emperor of the French. Eventually they too, were expelled. Empress Eugènie also left the tiara in France for the state.

 

Photo: Instagram

The Emerald and Diamond Tiara of Marie Thèrese along with other French Crown Jewels were then sold at auction in 1887 by France’s Third Republic. An unknown British buyer bought the tiara. It disappeared for awhile before being put on display as a loan in 1982 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 

In exile Marie Thèrese moved to Prague with her husband’s family, then to Goriza (part of Italy today) and after her husband's death to a Baroque castle just outside of Vienna where she spent her final years quietly (attending Mass, taking walks, reading and sewing). Empress Eugènie lived for the rest of her life in Great Britain as a guest of Queen Victoria. 

In 2002 the Louvre Museum purchased the tiara from its anonymous owner, returning it to France. The Angouème Emerald Tiara is now on display in Paris at the Louvre Museum. Home, Sweet Home!

We’re fortunate when royal jewels end up in a museum for us to see them up close.

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