How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair

Posted on 10 April 2019 by Jonathan Beckman

In 1785, a sensational trial began in Paris that would divide the country and captivate Europe A leading Catholic cardinal and scion of one of the most distinguished families in France stood accused of forging the queen s signature to obtain the most expensive piece of jewelry in Europe a 2,800 carat diamond necklace Where were the diamonds Was the cardinal innocent Was, for that matter, the queen The revelations from the trial would bedevil the French monarchy as the country descended into a bloody revolution.In How to Ruin a Queen, award winning author Jonathan Beckman tells of political machinations and enormous extravagance of kidnappings, prison breaks, and assassination attempts of hapless French police in disguise, reams of lesbian pornography, and a duel fought with poisoned pigs It is a detective story, a courtroom drama, a tragicomic farce, and a study of credulity and self deception in the Age of Enlightenment. New Read How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair [ Author ] Jonathan Beckman [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr What a good book, I was taken aback by the amount of information contained in this book It deals with pre revolution France, the main subject has to do with the purchase of a diamond necklace by the queen Marie Antoinette But things are not so simple, it turns out the whole purchase was a scam instigated by a woman called Jane , with royal aspirations herself who planned all of it to do away with the jewels There arecharacters introduced as the story goes on We get a glimpse at the What a good book, I was taken aback by the amount of information contained in this book It deals with pre revolution France, the main subject has to do with the purchase of a diamond necklace by the queen Marie Antoinette But things are not so simple, it turns out the whole purchase was a scam instigated by a woman called Jane , with royal aspirations herself who planned all of it to do away with the jewels There arecharacters introduced as the story goes on We get a glimpse at the French court , at t...It was the scandal which put the reputation of the queen of France at stake Cardinal Louis de Rohan, the prince bishop of Strasbourg and the grand almoner of France, was accused of stealing a 2,800 carot diamond necklace worth 1.6 million livres and invoking the name of the queen in his criminal enterprise Offending the royal dignity was a crime seen as far worse than the theft This fascinating book readslike a historical thriller, as the author traces the events of the crime and It was the scandal which put the reputation of the queen of France at stake Cardinal Louis de Rohan, the prince bishop of Strasbourg and the grand almoner of France, was accused of stealing a 2,800 carot diamond necklace worth 1.6 million livres and invoking the name of...So overall the best part of this book was the introduction as it was all downhill from there The introduction was the most concise and lacked the personal opinions and superfluous detail of the rest The main issue this book has is the level of unnecessary information that did not even lead to significant detail, it was practically filler This was especially the case when it came to Jeanne Yes, she was a major player in this controversy but the author took the long route when establishing her So overall the best part of this book was the introduction as it was all downhill from there The introduction was the most concise and lacked the personal opinions and superfluous detail of the rest The main issue this book has is the level of unnecessary information that did not even lead to ...If Hollywood had made a movie creating this plot, criticism would be that it was way over the top Truth is stranger than fiction, however, and these events really did occur At its heart, Marie Antoinette was accused of agreeing to buy, then stealing, a necklace of well over 2000 carats the most expensive piece of jewelry in all of Europe It wasn t that easy a situation, though, and an impoverished noblewoman, a cardinal of the church outside royal favor, and a prostitute all played role in If Hollywood had made a movie creating this plot, criticism would be that it was way over the...The event that is the Diamond Necklace Affair is perhaps one of the most exciting and enigmatic cons in history Its effects werefar reaching than the players could ever have envisaged, and it played a huge part to toppling the French monarchy This is the first book I have read on the subject, and it certainly served as a great introduction to the character of Jeanne de la Motte Valois, but unfortunately did very little to discuss the subject of its title How to Ru...Thank you to NetGalley and Da Capo Press Publishing for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy of How to Ruin A Queen by Jonathan Beckman.Below is my unbiased review.Wow What a thorough and well researched true account of Marie Antoinetteand the Diamond Necklace debacle of 1785 The story is captivating and spectacula...Disclaimer ARC from Netgalley One has to feel sorry for Marie Antoinette Yes, yes, it s popular to see her as a spoiled brat of a queen, but it can t have been easy to marry a king with some type of erectile dysfunction while moving to a throne country where everyone doubts your loyalty And then when you finally start having children, your eldest son dies And everyone is talking about your gambling habit and whether or not you might just be slut Of course, they are farpolite about Disclaimer ARC from Netgalley One has to feel sorry for Marie Antoinette Yes, yes, it s popular to see her as a spoiled brat of a queen, but it can t have been easy to marry a king with some type of erectile dysfunction while moving to a throne country where everyone doubts your loyalty And then when you finally start having children, your eldest son dies And everyone is talking about your gambling habit and whether or not you might just be slut Of course, they are farpolite about than that Finally, to make matters worse, some common person pretends to be you, seduces a nobleman whose excuse for doing something illegal is that he could believe that the women was such a loose woman That is the story set forth in this book What isJonathan Beckman presentsthan just rumor He not only details the story, in far better way than Hollywo...Interesting historical research about the well known Diamonds Necklace s Affair , which is one of the key triggers of the French Revolution Like other essays before this, it completely exonerates Marie Antoinette, guilty at most of being inadequate as Queen of France, and points the finger at Jean De La Motte, given the mind of intrigue, and the Cardinal de Rohan, who was guilty of immense stupidity Nothing new except for the level of detail achieved in delineating the nature of the Interesting historical research about the well known Diamonds Necklace s Affair , which is one of the key triggers of the French Revolution Like other essays before this, it completely exonerates Marie Antoinette, guilty at most of being inadequate as Queen of France, and points the finger at Jean De La Motte, given the mind of intrigue, and the Cardinal de Rohan, who was guilty of immense stupidity Nothing new except for the level of detail achieved in delineating the nature of the characters and the accuracy in the reconstruction of the process, marred by massive prejudices and interests.Well written and, at times,funny than the average of essays on the subject.I thank Da Capo Press and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.Interessante ricerca storica relativa al ben noto Affare della collana di diamanti , ovvero uno degli elementi scatenanti della Rivoluzione Francese Come altri saggi prima di questo, scagiona...A highly detailed and informative account of the Diamond Necklace Affair Beckman s investigation into this case, which helped to instigate the fall of Marie Antoinette, is nonfiction but written in a compelling style Each of the participants in the case is brought vividly to life through use of memoirs and contemporary accounts.The reader will laugh out loud at Jeanne de Motte s outrageous scheming and bold lying Cardinal Rohan s gullibility and naivety will cause head shaking incredulity A highly detailed and informative account of the Diamond Necklace Affair Beckman s investigation into this case, which helped to instigate the fall of Marie Antoinette, is nonfiction but written in a compelling style Each of the participants in the case is brought vividly to life through use of memoirs and contemporary accounts.The reader will laugh out loud at Jeanne de Motte s outrageous scheming and bold lying Cardinal Rohan s gullibility and naivety will cause head shaking incredulity Each person involved has their life described in full, so that one can understand how they came to be involved in this historical theft and fraud.A unique addition to this story was the author s inclusion of many references to literature of the time The analysis of popular art and novels gave an additiona...Rather academic language, as I read this over in my mind I was thinking the author must have been thinking at some point Just give me my PHD already so I can go and earn a living teaching french history at some university It feels like a dissertation, and the language well there were a whole lot of words that I added to my vocabulary Parsimonious, costive, compendium, Piquancy, cowbarring, to name just a few So I learn some things while the general thrust of the story that the Rather academic language, as I read this over in my mind I was thinking the author must have been thinking at some point Just give me my PHD already so I can go and earn a living teaching french history at some university It feels like a dissertation, and the language well there were a whole lot of words that I added to my vocabulary Parsimonious, costive, compendium, Piquancy, cowbarring, to name just a few So I learn some things while the general thrust of the story that the comtesse La Motte Valois was a thief and liar, probably a deeply troubled narcissist someone who destroyed norms and rules and thought only of themselves only of the moment, sounds like a certain President I know of The Cardinal Rohan was a spoiled rich kid th...

How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair

English
10 April 2019

Jonathan Beckman