Chantilly, France — The legendary and aristocratic Pink Diamond is on display at the Condé Museum in the Chateau of Chantilly, its historical home. The spectacular Pink Diamond, also known as the Grand Condé, pear-shaped and weighing in at more than 9 carats, has been in the collections of the Condé princes since the 18th century. But it once belonged to Marie-Amélie de Bourbon who was the queen to Louis-Philippe, the king of the French from 1830 until 1848 under the constitutional monarchy of France making her the last queen of the French. And there’s more. The legendary diamond was stolen 100 years ago from the Chantilly castle in 1926 in a daring heist that involved  crossing the castle’s moat, breaking in and scurrying away with precious crown jewels (sounds vaguely familiar, minus the moat).  The diamond was found weeks later hidden in an apple that apparently the two thieves had left behind in a Parisian hotel room.  

The precious gemstone has a storied and rather royal history. Queen Marie-Amélie bequeathed it to her grandson, Louis d’Orléans, the oldest son of the Duke d’Aumale, of the Condé princely family of the Chantilly castle and estate. Records show that it was already in the inventory of Louis Henri of Bourbon and prince of Condé in 1740 before becoming part of the queen’s collection. Her grandson died prematurely so the diamond went back to the Condé family and was bequeathed to the French Institute, along with Chantilly and the Condé museum, by his father Henri d’Orléans, the Duc d’Aumale in 1886. And according to the terms of his will the diamond must always remain there. The name the Grande Condé actually refers to Louis II, Prince of Condé, and according to the British diamond expert Ian Balfour, it was given to the prince shortly after the Battle of Rocroi in 1643 by Louis XIII for services rendered to the crown.  

And now a century later the real diamond (instead of the usual copy) is on exhibit at its home, the Musée de Condé along with documents and new research  on the diamond — in particular its exceptional color — undertaken by the musée Condé and the L’École des Arts Joailliers (School of Jewelry Arts) which is supported by Van Cleef & Arpels and is a partner of the exhibition. The show reveals the scientific investigation of the diamond led by a team bringing together Emmanuel Fritsch, professor emeritus of Physics and gemmology at the University of Nantes and Aurélien Delaunay and Annabelle Herreweghe, respectively director and assistant director of the French Laboratory of Gemmology.  The pink color is the result of rarely observed, complex properties of physics.  

The exhibition concludes with the story of the disappearance of the Pink Diamond, the ensuing Colombo-like investigation (Scotland Yard assisted its French counterparts), its remarkable discovery in the apple, and its return to the museum. Previously unseen archives, photographs, press cuttings and scientific analyses are all on the agenda as is a 14.5 carat oval-shaped yellow diamond, the Jonquille de Chantilly. The show runs until January 3rd, 2027. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette

https://chateaudechantilly.fr/en/evenement/exhibition-pink-diamond-chantilly

See also: https://thegourmetgazette.com/2026/10/30/and-the-answer-is/