The Crown of Louis XV

The Until the beginning of the 18th Century the personal crowns of the French kings were plain and unembellished with precious stones. In 1722 Louis XV introduced a new feature by having a magnificent crown set with the richest stones from the crown collection. Made for his personal use, this crown, used at his coronation, is the only crown to survive from the ancient regime.

Made by Laurent Ronde, the French Crown jeweller, it originally contained the famous collection of Mazarin Diamonds and the famous 'Regent' diamond, which was set in the front of the crown. It also contained hundreds of other precious diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

The world famous 'Regent Diamond' is a truly historic diamond. In December 1701 Thomas Pitt, Governor of Fort St. George, Madras, paid a native merchant called Jamchund 48,000 pagodas (£20,400) for a large, rough stone weighing 410 carats. The stone had been sold to Jamchund by an English skipper who had stolen it from a slave who had supposedly found it in the Parteal mines on the Kistna and had secreted it out in a wound in his leg. Pitt sent the stone home with his son in October 1702.

The cutting of the stone was done with great skill in London at a cost of £6,000, the diamond being reduced to 1363⁄4 carats in the process. The embarrassing treasure was eventually disposed of through the agency of John Law, the financier, to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France for the boy-king Louis XV, for the sum of £135,000. Named 'The Regent', the gem was set into this crown which Louis XV wore at his coronation. In 1791 it was valued at £480,000.

'The Regent' and crown can now be seen at The Louvre Museum in Paris.