La Motte, Jeanne de Valois, countess de

(1756-1791)

(Jeanne de Valois-St-Rémy)

   nobility

   Born in Fontette, Languedoc, Jeanne de Valois, countess de la Motte was an aristocrat who played an important role, on the eve of the revolution of 1789, in the scandalous Affair of the Necklace. In 1786, with the Italian adventurer Alessandro Cagliostro, she persuaded Cardinal louis de rohan, who wished to gain favor with Queen marie Antoinette, to serve as an intermediary in the purchase of a necklace worth an enormous sum. A nighttime rendezvous between Cardinal Rohan and the queen was arranged, with a servant girl playing the role of the queen. Meanwhile, the countess de La Motte's lover, who was presented as one of the queen's officers, was given the necklace and sold it. King louis XVI was then badly advised to bring the affair before the Parlement of Paris. The innocent queen was disgraced, as her private affairs and her expenses were made public, as were Rohan and Mme de La Motte, who was confined to La Salpêtrière asylum. She later emigrated during the Revolution and died in England.