In 1785, French society was rocked by a financial and political scandal that irreparably damaged Queen Marie Antoinette's reputation, despite her complete innocence. The fraud was masterminded by Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, a impoverished noblewoman who falsely claimed to be a intimate friend of the Queen. Jeanne targeted Cardinal Prince Louis de Rohan, who was desperate to regain royal favor.
Jeanne convinced Rohan that Marie Antoinette secretly desired an extraordinarily lavish 2,800-carat diamond necklace—originally created for Madame du Barry—valued at an astonishing 1. 6 million livres. To solidify the lie, Jeanne forged correspondence from the Queen and arranged a midnight meeting in the gardens of Versailles using a prostitute named Nicole d'Oliva, who was dressed to impersonate Marie Antoinette.
Fooled by the deception, Cardinal Rohan agreed to act as a secret negotiator, acquiring the necklace on installment terms from the royal jewelers and handing it over to Jeanne's accomplice. Jeanne promptly broke the necklace apart to sell the loose diamonds in London. When the jewelers approached the palace for overdue payments, King Louis XVI ordered Rohan's public arrest, leading to a sensational trial that exposed deep corruption and destroyed the public's remaining respect for the throne.