Researching Empress Eugénie’s Crown

Napoleon III was elected as president of France, but later named himself emperor in 1852. Not long after this, he commissioned Empress Eugénie’s crown in 1855 for the Paris Universal Exposition. Eight golden eagles (modeled after the Eagle Standard of the French), 1,354 diamonds, and 56 emeralds decorate the crown. Out of the 1,354 diamonds on the crown, 102 of the diamonds were taken from the ‘Diamonds of the Crown of France’, as it was common to repurpose the gems from former monarchs’ jewelry. Despite never being worn for a coronation, this crown is one of the few lasting symbols of the French monarchy and its opulence.

After the fall of Napoleon III’s regime in 1870, Empress Eugénie’s crown and other French crown jewels were moved to the French Finance Ministry’s vaults in 1872. The crown and other jewelry were shown in different exhibitions until a law in 1887 forced many of the crown jewels to be put up for sale due to the anti-monarchy rhetoric at the time. While a lot of other important artifacts, such as Napoleon III’s crown, were sold, Empress Eugénie’s crown was returned to her. The Empress eventually bequeathed the crown to Princesse Marie-Clotilde Napoléon. Empress Eugénie’s crown was acquired by the Louvre Museum in 1988 via a donor who purchased the crown at auction. The crown is one of the few surviving French crown jewels, even prior to the Louvre heist in October 2025.

On October 19, 2025, at around 9:30 am, thieves used an angle grinder to break into the Galerie d’Apollon via a window, threatened the guards with their grinder, and used the same angle grinder to break into two display cases. The thieves took eight artifacts in total, including Empress Eugénie’s tiara, brooch, and an emerald necklace belonging to Empress Marie Louise. The thieves also attempted to take Empress Eugénie’s crown, but dropped it on the street not far from the Louvre.

When found, the crown was missing one of its golden eagles and ten diamonds. Four of the palmettes were detached from the crown, and the ball and cross were knocked askew. One of the hoops was found on the floor of the gallery. Much of the structural damage on the crown was from the thieves squeezing the crown out of a small hole made in the display case by the angle grinders, but there was obvious damage from it being dropped in the street as well. As of February 2026, the Louvre has released images of the broken crown (shown above). The museum has also opened the opportunity for different restoration experts to bid on the chance to fix the crown. The Louvre has full confidence in a complete restoration, likely without the need to reconstruct much of the crown, as most of the crown’s structure and delicate details survived the heist, despite being bent out of shape.

Reflective critical analysis - creative writing

The theft at the Louvre in October 2025 was a huge cultural and historical event that will be referenced for years to come. As I researched the crown and the heist, it seemed as if there were millions of different articles on the subject, and that the entire history of these objects has now been boiled down to this one moment in time, specifically eight minutes. I thought the story could be written where Empress Eugénie’s crown talks to the other French Crown Jewels, but it became very clear that a better story would be through a dialogue between the crown itself and the jewels. This story addresses the ideas of longing and displacement among the crown and her gemstones.

I made the choice for the crown and gemstones to have separate personalities to show the reader that the different elements that make up the crown come from different historical backgrounds. Many of the jewels that are associated with the French Crown Jewels come from a background of colonialism. While some of the jewels were legally purchased, there were a lot of unethical routes to get jewels that aristocrats and royalty would exploit.

The crown discusses how the gemstones were bitter and homesick when they were united with the crown to represent some of the many issues with colonialism. There are many stolen historical artifacts in museums where they don’t belong, and the attitude of the gemstones is meant to reflect the need for repatriation in museums. When the theft begins, the diamonds and emeralds are thrilled at the suggestion that they might be going home, to further represent the positive effects of repatriation, even though in the story, the jewels are not being repatriated to their respective countries.

The crown that narrates the story has a know-it-all, bossy type of personality, and always tries to take charge to keep the gemstones in line with what she thinks royalty would do. Her attitude towards the gemstones and the situations she reacts to is her trying to maintain dignity despite no longer being used by royalty. Part of her doesn’t really understand why the gemstones want to go back to their home countries, but she has started to empathise with them once they were acquired by the museum. Neither the gemstones nor the crown were originally meant to be in a museum, which is why they long for the lives they used to live, whether it was with royalty, underground, or both.

In the beginning, the crown remarks that life in the hands of royalty is better than the life the gemstones had underground. This idea, that the gemstones are better off in the crown, is a common argument that people make when discussing stolen artifacts from museums. A lot of people might argue that a stolen artifact is better off in a museum, especially if the artifact’s homeland has a politically unstable background. The crown also makes a comment that the life they live is better than being plundered and sold off, which is an unfortunate foreshadowing of the robbery.

Noelle Claassen is a recent student on the 2025-2026 MA Museum Studies programme at the University of Leicester. This research and reflection accompanies Empress Eugénie’s Crown, which was submitted for our Museums and Knowledge module.

Bibliography

• Crown of Empress Eugénie, Wife of Napoleon III, <https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/crown-of-empress-eugenie-wife-of-napoleon-iii-incorporating-imperial-heraldry-of-napoleon-i/> [accessed 29 March, 2026].

• Caitlin Danaher et al., Inside the Louvre Heist that Stunned the World, <https://edition.cnn.com/world/europe/timeline-louvre-robbery-intl-latam-vis> [accessed 29 March, 2026].

• Karine Huguenaud (tr. P.H.), Empress Eugenie’s Crown, <https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/objects/the-empress-eugenies-crown/> [accessed 29 March, 2026].

• Laura Sharman, Mangled and Bent, the Louvre Heist’s Surviving Treasure is Undergoing ‘Complete Restoration’, <https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/06/style/louvre-heist-dropped-crown-images-intl-hnk> [accessed 29 March, 2026].