Count of Paris urges Louvre thieves to 'give us back our jewels'

By Elizabeth Pineau

DREUX, France (Reuters) -The Count of Paris, whose great-grandmother once wore the sapphire tiara stolen from the Louvre Museum, has pleaded with the robbers to return the stolen jewels intact for the sake of France's heritage - and for his family.

"Give us back our jewels, there's still time," said Jean d'Orleans, a direct descendant of French kings, speaking to Reuters at the royal domain of Dreux, 70 kilometres (43 miles) southwest of Paris.

"It's both personal and intimate," said d'Orleans, 60, as he leafed through family photographs showing his great-grandmother, the Duchess of Guise, wearing the Ceylon sapphire and diamond tiara in 1931. "These jewels were worn on special occasions, family events, sometimes also to create a specific portrait."

Another picture showed the tiara being worn by d'Orleans' grandmother Isabelle d'Orleans-Bragance for the last time at Princess Astrid of Belgium's 1984 wedding, before it was sold to the museum by his grandfather in 1985 for 5 million francs.

$102 MILLION HEIST

The heist in broad daylight has stunned France and left the nation reeling at its audacity, and at the security failures that allowed the intruders to make off with national treasures worth more than $100 million in an operation that lasted just a few minutes.

It was the biggest robbery at the Louvre since the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911. Police have made multiple arrests.

The eight stolen items were from the 19th century and once belonged to French royalty or the country's imperial rulers.

They included the tiara, a necklace and a single earring from the sapphire set that belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense.

A tiara and brooch belonging to Empress Eugenie as well as an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings gifted to Empress Marie Louise by Napoleon for their marriage were also among the thieves' loot.

The sapphire set, acquired in 1821 by King Louis-Philippe from Queen Hortense, remained in the Orleans family for more than a century before going on public display.

'PRICELESS HERITAGE'

The count urged the thieves to return the jewels intact.

"For our family, for the French people, it's important that these jewels return to their display case at the Louvre," he said in a grand living room lined with portraits of French monarchs including Henri IV, Louis XIII, Louis XIV and Marie-Antoinette. A renovated, more secure room should be used, he added.

The count, who implored the authorities to hold accountable anyone found to have been negligent in the October 19 theft, likened the public reaction to the heist to the outpouring of emotion after the Notre-Dame Cathedral blaze in 2019.

"It's priceless heritage," he said, "we need to recover that."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Richard Lough and Conor Humphries)