Regent, Secret Agent? Heist, Curse And The Indian Diamond Thieves In France Didn't Touch

Last Updated:October 23, 2025, 21:06 IST

Though dazzling in beauty, the Regent Diamond has long been associated with misfortune.

The Regent Diamond traces its origins to the Golconda region of India.

A gang of four thieves carried out an audacious heist at Paris’s Louvre Museum, escaping on scooters with eight priceless crown jewels of France but curiously left behind one of the museum’s most famous treasures: the Regent Diamond, a gem with deep roots in India and a reputation for being cursed. According to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, the stolen jewels- including diadems, necklaces and brooches once owned by French royalty- are valued at €88 million ($102 million).

Louvre Loot

The theft, which took place in just eight minutes on October 19, is one of the most brazen museum burglaries in decades. The jewels stolen included a pearl diadem and a diamond bodice bow belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III; an emerald necklace and earrings once gifted by Napoleon to Marie-Louise; and a sapphire set worn by Queen Marie-Amélie de Bourbon and Queen Hortense of Holland. Also stolen was Empress Eugénie’s reliquary brooch, a chandelier-like diamond piece linked to France’s imperial era.

Despite the scale of the theft, investigators were struck by what the burglars did not take- the Regent Diamond, one of France’s most valuable gems, estimated at $60 million.

Regent Diamond And Its India Link

The Regent Diamond traces its origins to the Golconda region of India, specifically the Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh. Legend says it was discovered by a slave in the late 17th century, who hid the raw 410-carat stone inside a leg wound to smuggle it out of the mines. On his way to Madras (now Chennai), he sought help from an English sea captain to sell it abroad but the captain betrayed and murdered him, seizing the diamond.

The stone was later cut and eventually purchased by Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, the regent of young King Louis XV- giving the gem its name, the Regent Diamond. Through the 18th and 19th centuries, it was used in the crowns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, and even adorned a hat worn by Marie Antoinette. After the French Revolution, it passed into the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte, who famously mounted it on his sword hilt, using the gem as a symbol of imperial power.

Is Regent Diamond ‘Cursed’?

Though dazzling in beauty, the Regent Diamond has long been associated with misfortune. The slave who found it was murdered, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed during the Revolution and Napoleon himself was twice exiled before dying on Saint Helena. Many in France’s art world now speculate that the Louvre thieves, aware of the gem’s bloody legend, may have intentionally avoided touching it.

News world Regent, Secret Agent? Heist, Curse And The Indian Diamond Thieves In France Didn't Touch

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