Fun on Friday: They Stole a Queen’s Heart
If you’re a romantic man, at some point you might have daydreamed about stealing a queen’s heart. Well, some thieves in France did just that. Like, they literally stole her heart. As in the organ.
When Anne of Brittany died, her heart was removed and encased in pure gold. It’s been in a French museum for more than a century.
Yeah. Ewwww. That was my reaction too.
Robbers broke into the Thomas-Dobrée museum through a window. An alarm went off, but that didn’t thwart our intrepid thieves. They got away with the 6-inch golden case containing Anne’s heart.
Did I mention ewwww?
This story gives me the heebie-jeebies. I actually saw the headlines earlier this month. “Queen’s ‘heart of gold’ stolen from French museum.” I just figured it was a gold relic called the “Queen’s Heart of Gold.” I had no idea that the woman’s heart was actually inside the thing. Talk about macabre.
So, how did Anne’s heart end up inside a gold case? The queen died in 1514 and was buried with other French royals in the Basilica of Saint Denis outside Paris. But as the Telegraph explains it, “To show that her heart belonged to Brittany, it was placed in her parents’ tomb at the chapel of the Carmelite friars in Nantes, in accordance with her wishes. As queen she defended the autonomy of Brittany, then a duchy linked by treaty to France and often referred to as ‘Little Britain.'”
Rich people.
Anyway, there is a little irony in the queen saying her heart belonged to Brittany because it never belonged to any one man. The good queen got around. Of course, this wasn’t unusual for royals, whose marriages were often more a matter of politics than love.
As a child, Anne was betrothed to Prince Edward of England. Ed was the successor to the throne, but his parent’s marriage was declared bigamous. That made the marriage illegitimate and thus Ed suddenly went from future king to little bastard. Edward and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, were not seen in public ever again after their uncle Richard III took the throne. It’s assumed Richard had the boys murdered.
Anne was first married to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1490. She was 13-years-old. That marriage sparked a war between Brittany and French King Charles VIII. Charlie won that war and decided he wanted an angel as a prize. He forced Anne to agree to marry him instead. Their marriage was formalized in 1492 when Pope Innocent VIII annulled her marriage to Maximilian. It wasn’t a completely bad deal for Anne. She became Queen of France.
Anne was just 18 when Charles kicked the bucket. After he died, Anne married his cousin Louis XII who succeeded the throne. Thus, Anne became the only woman to marry two French kings.
Get this – the poor woman was pregnant at least 16 times. Only three of the children survived, and her only surviving child with Charles died at age 3.
Well, this story does have a happy ending. French police caught the thieves and recovered Anne’s heart. The crooks buried the heart-casket, along with a Hindu statuette and some gold coins about 40 miles from the museum. Officials say they think the men planned to melt down the objects and sell the gold. I’m guessing if they had actually gotten around to the actual melting, they would have gotten a nasty surprise.
This story reminds me a little of the guy who stole the gold vodka bottle. Here’s a pro-tip for you would-be thieves out there. Stop trying to grab the most audacious items. You’re just calling attention to yourself. Go for the plain stuff. Use some discretion.
Or, here’s an idea. Don’t steal stuff.
If you really want gold, you can call one of our SchiffGold precious metals specialists. They can hook you up. Now, they won’t sell you a gold case with a heart inside. But hey, that’s gross. You don’t want that. And SchiffGold does offer a nice selection of gold bars and gold coins. As a bonus, you won’t get chased by the po-po. Call 1-888-GOLD-160 today!
Fun on Friday is a weekly SchiffGold feature. We dig up some of the off-the-wall and off-beat stories relating to precious metals, politics and the economy and share them with you – with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Click here to read other posts in this series.
