The Curse of Hope Diamond
By: Matti Jentz
The Legend
The Curse of Hope Diamond dates back to its Indian heritage. The great blue diamond was said to have been stolen from the Forehead of an Idol. According to the legend the diamond was stolen from a statue of the Hindu goddess Sita. The Hindu Priests were incensed and placed a curse on whoever owned the diamond. The Curse of the Hope Diamond foretells :
"Bad luck and death not only for the owner of the diamond but for all who touched it."
The whole curse started with a theft. The man who stole the diamond was named Tavernier. The curse of the Hope Diamond is said to have first inflicted a terrible death on Tavernier who died of a fever and whose body was then torn apart by wolves. The diamond was sold to King Louis XIV of France. Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715 of gangrene but almost all of his legitimate children and grandchildren died. His five-year-old great-grandson succeeded him to reign as Louis XV of France. Louis XV was a weak and dissolute King. One of his mistresses was the Countess Du Barry who was beheaded during the French Revolution. The next King was Louis XVI. Both he and his wife Marie Antoinette were beheaded during the French Revolution. The diamond passed to the English King George IV who left considerable debts.The Hope Family ended up selling the diamond because of debts. In 1911 the Hope diamond was sold to Mrs. Evalyn Walsh Mclean. Evalyn McLean was the wife of Edward McLean who was heir to the Washington Post newspaper fortune.The American Evalyn Walsh McLean owned the Hope Diamond and her life was best by tragedies and after her death the Hope Diamond once again had to be sold to settle debts. Terrible tragedies struck her family including the death of her first born son, Vinson, in a car crash when he was only nine. Her daughter committed suicide at age 25. In 1941 Edward McLean was declared insane and confined to a mental institution until his death.