At 9:30 am on October 19, 2025, four masked individuals entered the Galleria D’Apollo via basket lift. They reached the second-floor window and used power tools to force the frame open, easily entering the exhibit. Sources claim they calmly approached the display, smashed the casing, and snatched the heirlooms. From there, they fled the scene on scooters after a failed attempt to set the lift ablaze. This theft is one of many burglaries targeting French museums in the past three months. It’s a record high, and historians claim that it will have devastating effects on the preservation of history.
Current news is failing to highlight the importance of the jewels, leaning to focus on security failures. The pieces targeted were the French Crown Jewels, prominent points of political discourse during the French Revolution. But the artifacts hold extensive historical and political significance for not only France but for much of the Western world as well. After leaving the French court, the heirlooms would be passed between some of the most prominent families of the 19th and 20th centuries. Losing the Crown Jewels is losing a large part of history that, unfortunately, may never be regained.
1800: queen Hortense’s Sapphire Parure
Made of 36 total sappires and around 1,900 diamonds, the sapphire parure was initially created for Queen Hortense, with little being known of its origins. Queen Hortense gifted it to Queen Marie-AmĂ©lie de Bourbon, wife of King Louis Philippe I of France and niece of Marie-Antoinette. Initially, the couple fled once Napoleon came to power, but returned after his downfall and subsequent death. The Monarchs did not last long as they were exiled during the revolution, being forced to move to England and live under the Queen’s protection. Years later, the parure was given to Isabelle D’Orleans, the great-granddaughter of King Louis Phillipe I. The Orleans family held onto the heirloom until the 1980s, when it was donated to the Louvre.
1810: Marie Louise’s Emerald Set
The Emerald Set was a gift from Napoleon I to Archduchess Marie-Louise, daughter of the last Holy Roman Emperor, to celebrate their marriage and consequent period of peace between the French Empire and Austria. It is made up of 32 13.75-carat emeralds and 1,138 diamonds, an extreme flaunting of wealth. Rumors circulated that on the day of their marriage, Napoleon’s sister Paulina stripped Marie-Louise of her Austrian belongings and forced her to dress in only French attire. This set was one of the first things she was adorned in. When she left France in 1814 to aid her father during wartime, the court required her to return the royal jewels. She complied but kept the emerald set and gifted it to her cousin, Grand Duke Leopold II of Habsburg. The jewels stayed within the family until 1953, when they were sold to Van Cleef & Arpels and soon after found their way to the Louvre.
1853: Eugenie’s Jewels
Empress Eugenie de Montijo was the wife of Emperor Napoleon III. Napoleon commissioned a pearl tiara in 1853 as a gift to his wife to celebrate their marriage, which occurred just days after Napoleon crowned himself Emperor. It is made up of 212 pearls and 1,998 diamonds, many of the stones being taken from the French Crown Jewels, which previously belonged to Marie-Louise.
After Napoleon III’s exile in 1878, the tiara stayed in the palace until it reached the Louvre in 1884. A few years later, in 1887, it was sold to Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria. It then found its way to Countess Gloria Von Schonburg-Glauchau, who wore it alongside a Valentino gown for her wedding. She continued to wear it to countless parties. In one full-circle moment, she dressed as Marie-Antoinette and partied alongside Europe’s most influential socialites.
The Empress was also gifted two brooches. One she claimed symbolized her catholic faith. It held 94 diamonds, two from the collection of eighteen diamonds left to King Louis XIV by Cardinal Jules Marzarin. The other brooch, in the shape of a bow, holds 2,438 diamonds. After a decade in the empress’s possession, it was purchased by Caroline Astor, an infamous Gilded Age socialite, during the auction of the French Crown Jewels in 1887. For over a century, it found its way through American and European upper-class homes until landing back with its sister heirlooms in 2008.
History Lost
These Crown Jewels are only a few of the pieces stolen or damaged in the heist. They represent a lineage of French royalty, politics, and history. Prosecutors claim that if these artifacts are not found within a week, they will be lost. They may be taken apart and reassembled into new pieces, or they could be kept intact in someone’s private collection. Based on historical patterns, preservationists believe that they may resurface in the span of fifty years to a century.
Louvre. (n.d.). Louvre Collections Site. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/
The Royal Watcher. (10.20.25). Empress Euginie’s Pearl Tiara. theroyalwatcherblog.com. https://royalwatcherblog.com/2025/10/20/empress-eugenies-pearl-tiara/
The Royal Watcher. (10.23.25). Queen Marie-Amelie’s Sappire Parure. theroyalwatcherblog.com. https://royalwatcherblog.com/2025/10/23/queen-marie-amelies-sapphire-parure/
Emmanuelle Papot. (n.d.) MARIE-LOUISE OF AUSTRIA. napoleon.org. https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/biographies/marie-louise-of-austria/
Chateau de Versaille. (n.d.) Marie Louise. en.chateauversaille.fr. https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/marie-louise