The Hope diamond is one of the most famous gems in the world. While it does not have as long and illustrious a history as the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, it has attracted even more legends, and in particular the story of a curse.

The Blue Diamond of the Crown

The story begins with a x carat diamond which was found by M Tavernier, a traveller in India. The diamond was an unusual blue colour. He sold the diamond to Louis XIV in . The king had the diamond cut, and set. At this stage it was carats. Known as the Blue Diamond of the Crown, or the Royal Blue, this diamond was inherited by Louis XV when he came to the throne in 1715. In 1749, he had the diamond recut and set in the Insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This was inherited, along with the rest of the Crown Jewels, by Louis XVI. During the French Revolution in 1791, the jewels were confiscated by the new government, and placed on display in a special depository. The Royal Blue was stolen in 1792, and disappeared from view.

In , a large blue diamond, in the possession of is described in detail by M F. Now only 44 carats, the stone is of a shape that could have been cut from the Royal Blue, and most commentators agree that this was the Royal Blue, altered to make it more easily saleable. This stone was bought at some point by Henry Philip Hope.

The Hope Family

The Hope family were rich and cultured bankers. The family was of Scottish origin, but was based in both Amsterdam and London. Thomas Hope of Deepdene in Surrey was particularly well known as a traveller, a collector, an author, a furniture designer, and a strong influence on taste in the early 19th century. Henry Philip Hope, who owned the diamond, was a brother of Thomas, and after Henry’s death, and a long dispute over his will, the stone, which became known as the Hope Diamond, was inherited by Thomas’ son, Henry Thomas Hope of Deepdene. Henry Thomas was wealthy and successful, and added to the family lands by buying the estate of Castleblayney in County Monaghan. His family life was quite irregular for those Victorian days: he had an illegitimate daughter with a Frenchwoman, Ann Adèle Bichet, in . In , he married Ann Adèle, and their daughter Henrietta Adela Hope was brought up in the expectation of becoming heir to the Hope fortune. In Henrietta married , the heir to the 6th Duke of Newcastle. After Henry’s death, his widow Ann Adele had possession of the Hope family estates, and in she left them to her second grandson, Lord Francis Pelham-Clinton, with the condition that he take the surname Hope. Since his elder brother was to inherit the Dukedom of Newcastle, this was a normal arrangement for the time.

Lord Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope, as he was now called, was an extravagant gambler, who added to his faults in the eyes of English society by marrying an American showgirl. By xxxx he was seriously in need of money, and, since the estates were his for his life only, had to petition the courts for permission to sell the Hope Diamond and other possessions. In 190x the diamond was sold. Lord Francis divorced his showgirl wife, and, though short of money, stayed in possession of much of the Hope lands in both Deepdene and Castleblayney. Long after he had sold the diamond, he became the 8th Duke of Newcastle on the death of his brother in 1928.

Diamond Merchants and Millionaires

The diamond changed hands a number of times in the years 1905-1910. Pierre Cartier, of the famous family of French jewellers, bought it in 1910. At this point the first stories of a curse began to surface. Cartier tried to sell it to Evalyn Walsh McLean, heiress of a self-made mining millionaire, who was married to M cLean, heir to the Washington Post and its attendant fortune. At first reluctant, Evalyn was impressed when Cartier reset the stone, and she bought it in 1911. Evalyn was fond of publicity, and for more than 30 years, the Hope Diamond featured in stories about her. She was famous for wearing it in all kinds of situations, even gardening, for lending it to friends to wear at gala occasions, and for occasionally attaching the diamond to the collar of her dog. She also publicised the story of the curse.

Harry Winston and the Smithsonian

After Evalyn McLean’s death in 1947, the stone was sold to pay some of the debts of her estate. It was bought by Harry Winston, another successful diamond merchant and jeweller, who made it the centrepiece of an travelling exhibition, making it the most famous diamond in America. In 1958, in a blaze of publicity, he donated the stone to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where it became the most-visited museum exhibit in the US, and the beginning of an exceptional collection of precious stones.

The Hope Diamond itself

Carats, cut, colour, fluorescence blahblah

The Curse

The story of the curse of the Hope Diamond first began to circulate in the early 20th century. Since Evalyn McLean often claimed that things that were unlucky for others were lucky for her, Pierre Cartier, hoping to intrigue her, certainly had an interest in emphasising tales of others’ bad luck with the diamond. Somebody Yoh, the showgirl who had been married to Lord Francis Hope, was also busy spreading stories. Her brief connection with the Hope Diamond was her greatest claim to fame when she returned to the US, and she made the most of it.

The curse is said to bring bad luck and death to anyone wearing the Hope Diamond. A number of fictional tales were attached to the diamond. It was said to have come from the eye of an idol. The unknown thief who stole it in Paris was given a name and a suitably unlucky story. In the few years in the early 1900s, when it was being sold from one diamond merchant to another, various unlucky people were said to have briefly owned it and suffered, including the last Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid, who was deposed in 1910.

Leaving aside these outright fictions, it is interesting to look at those people historically known to be associated with the diamond.
The following effects are claimed:
The finder Tavernier was killed by wolves in Russia,
Marie Antoinette was brought to the guillotine by the curse,
Lord Francis Hope was cursed to financial ruin
Evalyn Walsh McLean’s only son died in a car accident; her husband ended up in an asylum, and her daughter committed suicide.

Since the Royal Blue was part of the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, it was unlikely to have ever been worn by a woman, and there is no record of Marie Antoinette wearing it. Lord Francis Hope’s financial ruin was fairly relative: when he died in 1941 he was still a Duke and landowner.

As to bringing death, a look at the known owners of the diamond.