Cold Open

It’s the early hours of September 11th, 1792, in a vast square on the western edge of Paris, France.

Paul Miette dashes across the cobbles and ducks into the shadowy colonnade of the Royal Storehouse. The dark windows above him glisten in the moonlight, and all is quiet.

He gives a low whistle, and with a scurry of footsteps, he’s joined by his small gang of fellow thieves. Paul is 35 years old and a career criminal. But he’s never attempted a heist like this.

One of his accomplices hands him a coil of rope. Paul slings it over his shoulder, then points to a nearby lamppost.

On the count of three, Paul is hoisted into the air. Scrambling up the post, he pulls himself up onto the ladder bars used by the lamplighters.

From there, he can reach out and touch the stone balcony on the second floor of the storehouse above.

He steadies his balance and then launches himself at the balcony. At the last second, he just manages to grab the stone railing, and with a wild kick of his legs, he pulls himself over the top.

But there’s no time to catch his breath. Paul gets to his feet and quickly checks that there are still no guards to be seen in the dark square. Then, he slips the rope off his shoulder, ties it around a stone column, and lowers it to his accomplices below.

While they climb up the rope, Paul turns to the building behind him. He counts out the windows, knowing exactly which room he wants—the chambers where France’s Crown Jewels are on display.

Normally, they would be under armed guard. But this is no ordinary time. Paris is in the grip of revolution. The king has been overthrown and imprisoned. And the vast royal treasure of gold and diamonds is there for the taking.

Over the next week, Paul Miette and his accomplices will return to the Royal Storehouse again and again, steadily emptying the building of its priceless jewels. It has taken French monarchs centuries to assemble this collection. But it will only take a week for the thieves to plunder it, in one of history’s most audacious robberies that began on September 11th, 1792.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is September 11th, 1792: The Theft of the French Crown Jewels.

Act One

It’s late August 1792, in La Force Prison in Paris, a few weeks before the break-in at the Royal Storehouse.

In a dank cell, Paul Miette presses his lips to the wall beneath the room’s single barred window. It’s raining outside, and a small stream of water is running down the stone. Paul is so thirsty that when he closes his eyes, the dirty water tastes almost as good as the jugs of wine he used to drink at his favorite tavern. But when he opens his eyes again, the sad reality of his situation is impossible to ignore.

He slumps down on the ground beside one of his cellmates. If he could just get out of this prison, he’s convinced that he could pull off one of the greatest heists the world has ever seen. When he was a free man, he heard about the lax security at the Royal Storehouse. Every Monday, the French Crown Jewels were put on display, and Paul visited the Storehouse to see the dazzling gems for himself. He came away convinced that it would be no more difficult to break into than any other building he’d robbed in the past. But the prize would be far, far greater.

But before he can put this plan into action, he was convicted of another crime and thrown into prison. He’s been stuck here for months.

But while he’s been languishing behind bars, France has been consumed by turmoil.

Three years ago, a political crisis overturned centuries of tradition. A new National Assembly of the people stripped the clergy and nobility of their privileges. Then, it began drawing up a constitution that would limit King Louis XVI’s powers. But after Louis attempted to escape France, fears grew that he was conspiring with the country’s enemies, the Prussians, who had launched an invasion of France, with the aim of reversing the Revolution. And as the Prussian army advanced toward the capital, armed revolutionaries took to the streets of Paris. They forced the Assembly to remove the king from power; three days later, Louis and the royal family were imprisoned.

So now, it seems that France is to become a republic. And with that, Paul worries that the Crown Jewels will be broken up and sold off while he is still in his cell. But the chaos in the country is about to provide him with an unexpected opportunity.

The rumors about a counter-revolutionary plot haven’t ended with the imprisonment of the king. The Prussians are still advancing toward Paris, and there are fears that the thousands of royalists imprisoned during the Revolution may try to escape and join the invasion force. So on September 2nd, inflamed by some revolutionary leaders, large mobs gather in Paris. They storm prisons across the capital and go from cell to cell, hunting down suspected traitors.

Hundreds of men and women are dragged before hastily arranged tribunals and sentenced to immediate execution.

More than a thousand people are killed in only a matter of hours. Many of the dead aren’t noblemen or royalists at all—only common criminals who are swept up in the violence. But Paul Miette isn’t among them. Somehow, during the chaos of the September Massacres, he manages to escape his cell, unharmed.

He emerges back onto the streets of Paris, a free man again.

And as he walks the familiar neighborhoods for the first time in months, there is a lot on Paul’s mind. He wants to see his old friends. He wants to go back to that tavern and have a jug of wine. But most of all, he wants to steal the Crown Jewels.

He is sure that they must still be sitting in the poorly guarded Royal Storehouse. But he doesn’t know how long they’ll remain there. With the Prussian army now a little over 150 miles from Paris, Paul knows that the Crown Jewels could be moved to a safer location soon. So he has to get there first.

He won’t be able to do it alone, though. He’ll need accomplices for this job—men he trusts who can help him gain entry to the Royal Storehouse and then escape with its vast treasures undetected. Luckily, Paul Miette won’t have to build his gang from scratch. During his time behind bars, he recruited a group of fellow prisoners. Now he will only need to bring them together again—and finally put his long-planned heist into action.

Act Two

It’s the early hours of September 11th, 1792, inside the Royal Storehouse in Paris, France, a little over a week after Paul Miette’s escape from prison.

Cadet Guillot stands over an opened cabinet, his young face slack with amazement. He can’t stop staring at the jeweled pendant inside. Nestled in a Moroccan-leather case, it’s the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, a prestigious Catholic order of chivalry. Hundreds of small gems form flames and the shape of a golden fleece. And above them, an enormous deep-blue diamond hangs beneath a ruby carved into the shape of a dragon.

Tentatively, Cadet reaches out and picks up the jewel. He’s so engrossed in the incredible detail of the design that he doesn’t notice the ringleader of the gang, Paul Miette, appearing at his shoulder.

In a low whisper, Paul says Cadet can keep it if he wants. It can be his share of the plunder. Cadet can’t quite believe that something so beautiful and valuable could be his. But Paul just smiles and nods. There is more than enough to go around.

Having scaled the balcony of the Royal Storehouse, Paul’s gang used a glass cutter to get through one of the windows. Then, they sawed through the wooden shutters on the other side. Making a small square hole, little larger than a fist, through which one of them was able to reach into the room and pull back the locks from the inside.

If there were any guards on duty, they were nowhere to be seen. So the dark cases filled with jewels are totally unprotected.

Inside the boxes are diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds of all shapes and sizes. But none of them can compare to the Order of the Golden Fleece pendant. The blue diamond at its center is extraordinarily rare. Discovered in the mines of India, this gemstone was originally even larger. It was bought by a French trader in 1669, who sold it to the “Sun King” Louis XIV. He ordered the stone to be cut down from 150 carats to just 69. It was then set in gold and worn by the king around his neck.

It was Louis’ successor who had the diamond mounted into a pendant to mark his membership in the Order of the Golden Fleece. And decades later, this same piece has caught the eye of the thief Cadet Guillot.

Closing the pendant’s leather case, Cadet carefully lifts it from the box. Across the room, the other members of the gang have opened other cabinets and cases and have more jewels in their hands than they know what to do with. Paul orders them to put back anything they can’t carry. He plans to come again another night, so, as much as possible, they must leave the room exactly as they found it.

They shut the cases and exit again through the window, carefully pulling the shutters closed behind them. Then from the balcony, they climb down the rope into the square and go their separate ways.

But Cadet doesn’t understand why Paul wants to go back another night. It doesn’t seem worth the risk. The break-in could be discovered at any moment, and they’ve already stolen enough jewels to last a lifetime. So, Cadet decides to make a break for it. He leaves Paris and heads north toward the port of Le Havre in Normandy. There, he books passage on a boat for England. Cadet knows that if he is found with the jewels, he could face imprisonment or even death. So, he has to disguise what he’s stolen. He doesn’t want to destroy something so beautiful. But Cadet knows he must make the Golden Fleece as unrecognizable as possible.

So, taking a private cabin, he sets to work. Using a knife and other makeshift tools, he removes the magnificent blue diamond from its setting. He then pries off the red dragon, and, one by one, plucks out the hundreds of other gems around it.

By the time he reaches England, Cadet has destroyed the original piece. But he is sure that its constituent parts will still make him richer than his wildest dreams.

And when he arrives in London, he seeks out French aristocrats who have fled the Revolution, but still might have cash to spend on rare gems. But his hopes for a speedy sale are dashed. Many of the aristocrats simply don’t have the money to buy the jewels. In fact, many of them are selling off their own gems just to support themselves. This has led to a glut of precious stones on the English market, further dampening interest in Cadet’s stolen jewels.

So, despite the enormous gems in his pocket, Cadet is effectively penniless. In 1796, he abandons England and returns to the Continent. But his luck doesn’t improve there. He entrusts the carved red dragon to an associate who promises him he can sell it. But this other man betrays him. He takes the jewel for himself and has Cadet sent to a debtors’ prison.

The red dragon will eventually find its way back into the hands of the French government. But the rest of the jewels stolen by Cadet Guillot will disappear. Sold, dispersed, or simply lost, their fates will remain unknown—until one mystery at least is partly solved by the appearance of a remarkable blue diamond in London two decades later.

Act Three

It’s September 19th, 1812, in London, England, 20 years after the theft of the French Crown Jewels.

In his office, John Francillon carefully removes a large blue diamond from its case and places it in the center of a piece of paper. With a pencil, John then traces around the outside of the gem.

At the age of 68, John has been a jeweler for decades. But he is also a collector of curiosities and a scholar of natural history. And it’s in those roles that he’s examining this jewel today.

Its owner is the diamond trader Daniel Eliason. He’s waiting next door while John makes a record of this extraordinary stone.

So John moves the diamond back and forth to catch the light, as he carefully records its facets. It’s like nothing he’s ever seen before—it’s almost flawless.

And once he’s happy that he has the diamond to scale, John lays his pencil to one side and takes up a paintbrush. He has carefully mixed a deep blue color, but it can’t quite capture the true beauty of the gem. It’s the best John can do, though, and with a few delicate strokes, he colors in his drawing.

Then he packs away his things and, with a touch of regret, closes the diamond in its case and carries it back next door.

John does not know precisely how this magnificent jewel came into Daniel’s possession. But a blue diamond of this size is rare. He hasn’t heard of one so large since the gem belonging to the King of France went missing two decades ago.

By now, many of the Crown Jewels stolen from the Royal Storehouse have been recovered. But most of the criminals behind the theft were never caught—and even when the ringleader, Paul Miette, was put on trial, he was surprisingly acquitted.

And the fate of the famous blue diamond has always remained a mystery—and if Daniel Eliason makes any connection between this stone and the missing royal gem, he keeps those thoughts to himself. When he offers the diamond for sale in 1813, he makes no mention of any potential connection to French royalty. Still, Daniel struggles to sell the stone. Its price tag of £30,000 is simply too much for most buyers. It’s only in 1821 that he finally manages to find a buyer, but he has to accept less than half his original asking price.

The diamond’s new owner is Henry Hope, a wealthy art collector. And after he takes possession, the stone will then become known as the Hope Diamond.

Forensic testing will later prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that it is the same blue stone that was once part of the French Crown Jewels. But the diamond will never be returned to France. Instead, it will eventually be donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. It remains on display there to this day, and each year, millions of visitors come to admire its beauty—just as the thief Paul Miette once did when he was planning an extraordinary heist that began on September 11th, 1792.

Outro

Next on History Daily. September 14th, 1812. A fire breaks out in Moscow during the French occupation of the city, destroying two-thirds of the Russian capital.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by William Simpson.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.