French police have recovered a historic 40-carat diamond ring that was stolen last week. The Paris newspaper Le Parisien reported that the piece of jewelry, which belongs to Countess Olympia von Arco Zinneberg, fiancée of Prince Jean Christophe Napoleon, had been taken, along with a computer and some personal papers, out of a car parked in the 6th arrondissement. The couple assisted the police in the recovery.
The diamond is called a Bonaparte diamond, and once lived at the heart of Empress Eugenie’s crown. It is one of the few surviving royal jewels to have remained in the country. “It is amazing that the diamond in question has remained in the family of Eugénie’s descendants,” says esteemed rare jewelry dealer Lee Siegelson.
