Queen of the Blue Diamond

My friend, Joseph Gregory, told me this story when he gave me a book, “Father Struck It Rich,” the autobiography of his great grandmother. He later republished this book as “Queen of Diamonds – The Fabled Life of Evalyn Walsh McLean” and developed the Fable perfume which has his great grandmother’s favorite dessert, Crème Brulee at the heart of the fragrance.

Evalyn Walsh McLean, the last and longest owner of the Hope diamond, went from a poor miner’s daughter to engaging socialite when her father struck gold in the Wild West. The family moved into a DC mansion which became the scene of some of the city’s most lavish entertaining. After learning the parlor tricks of the Parisian ladies and acquiring a passion for expensive jewelry, Evalyn returned home and eloped with the dashing heir of the Washington Post.

With $200,000 in "pin" money as a wedding gift from both families, the newlyweds sailed off on a three-month honeymoon to Europe and the Mid-East in 1908, where she saw the largest and most perfect blue diamond in existence. She returned home without it but three years later Prince Cartier brought the reset stone to Evalyn for her to wear for a few days. The impetuous 24 year old heiress, couldn’t’ resist the fascinating past of the diamond which was believed to be cursed as it had been stolen from a statue in India over 200 years earlier. She said that she stared at the deep indigo gem for hours, as if hypnotized, put it around her neck and hooked her life to its destiny for good or evil.

She bought the diamond for $180,000, believing she would escape the curse because things that were unlucky for others would be lucky for her – she was an exception. McLean wore the Hope diamond as a good luck charm, her first born son died in a car crash when he was only 9, her daughter committed suicide at age 25 and her husband was confined to a mental institution until his death in 1941. She allowed her pet monkey, llama and dog to wear the jewel, her daughter Mamie teethed on it and she loaned it to many a bride for ‘something borrowed, something blue.’ She wandered the gloomy rooms of her home imagining crawling reptiles while overcoming her morphine addiction; and stood in the rain wearing a fur coat and clutching the Hope diamond as her beloved Washington Post was auctioned.

When the Hope diamond went on sale in 1949, it was bought by Harry Winston, a New York jeweler. Some believe that Winston donated the jewel to rid himself of the curse, but he donated the Hope diamond to the Smithsonian Institution to be the focal point of a newly established gem collection.

On November 10, 1958, the Hope diamond arrived in a plain brown box, by registered mail, and was met by a large group of people at the Smithsonian who celebrated its arrival. The Hope diamond, now worth a quarter of a billion dollars, is encased in the National Museum of Natural History where it remains the number one sought-after museum exhibit in the world.

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