NEWS FROM TRANSYLVANIAN TRILOGY
Ben was holding the blue diamond up to the light again. “Let me tell you about the second of Tavernier’s diamond cut from the original, 112-carat-blue. After the Hope diamond was the blue, Bonaparte diamond, square and forty-three carats. Tavernier sold it first to the Sultan of India in 1669 who in turn, sold it to a Japanese samurai who hid it in his sailboat on the way to Egypt. One of Napoleon’s generals found it in a Pharaoh’s pyramid when he and his army were there in 1798. Napoleon Bonaparte took the diamond back with him to France and embedded the jewel in his sword for his inauguration. Defying tradition, Napoleon raised his diamond sword and crowned himself emperor by taking the crown from the Pope's hands into his own. That’s when Napoleon's good luck turned bad.”
“Do you think that was because of the diamond?” Mica asked, horrified.
“Who knows?” Ben said, “but even after he died, the curse didn’t end. The Bonaparte diamond went to his second wife, Marie-Louise, and continued to cause misery.”
“Yes?” Mica said, eager to hear that diamond’s history.
“Marie-Louise was the daughter of Franz Joseph, emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Within a year Marie-Louise gave Napoleon a son, Le Roi de Rome- L’Aiglon.
“At this time, Napoleon's success was over. He started losing on the battlefield. After Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of Elba and then after that, he was exiled again to St. Helena, where he died alone and miserable.
“Marie-Louise returned to Vienna with the diamond, prying it from Napoleon's sword. She was a greedy woman.
“Misery followed the blue diamond. Her son, called The Duke of Reichstadt by the Austrians, died in his early twenties. Some say he was poisoned by Metternich, the emperor’s ambitious, Foreign Minister.
“The Bonaparte diamond stayed in Vienna with Marie-Louise until her father, the emperor, was afraid of the diamond's curse and insisted she send it back to France. But it was too late. She had already possessed the diamond. In fact, the story goes that Marie-Louise was quite possessed- she was a nymphomaniac.
To Be Continued...
“Do you think that was because of the diamond?” Mica asked, horrified.
“Who knows?” Ben said, “but even after he died, the curse didn’t end. The Bonaparte diamond went to his second wife, Marie-Louise, and continued to cause misery.”
“Yes?” Mica said, eager to hear that diamond’s history.
“Marie-Louise was the daughter of Franz Joseph, emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Within a year Marie-Louise gave Napoleon a son, Le Roi de Rome- L’Aiglon.
“At this time, Napoleon's success was over. He started losing on the battlefield. After Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of Elba and then after that, he was exiled again to St. Helena, where he died alone and miserable.
“Marie-Louise returned to Vienna with the diamond, prying it from Napoleon's sword. She was a greedy woman.
“Misery followed the blue diamond. Her son, called The Duke of Reichstadt by the Austrians, died in his early twenties. Some say he was poisoned by Metternich, the emperor’s ambitious, Foreign Minister.
“The Bonaparte diamond stayed in Vienna with Marie-Louise until her father, the emperor, was afraid of the diamond's curse and insisted she send it back to France. But it was too late. She had already possessed the diamond. In fact, the story goes that Marie-Louise was quite possessed- she was a nymphomaniac.
To Be Continued...
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