L'affaire du collier de la reine

In order to win the favor of Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was distancing herself from him, the Cardinal de Rohan allowed himself to be duped by a schemer, the Countess de la Motte. He believed that the queen longed for a necklace worth 1,600,000 livres, bought it on credit and gave it to the countess de la Motte, believing that he was giving it to the queen herself. The queen did not wear the necklace at the Court parties, so the jewellers became worried. The king, having been informed, had the cardinal and the countess de la Motte arrested. The latter was condemned to be beaten with rods, branded with a red iron and locked up at the Salpêtrière.