The Crown of Louis XV is the sole surviving crown from the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 ancien regime among the French Crown Jewels

French Crown Jewels

The French Crown Jewels were the crowns, orb, sceptres, diadems and jewels that were the symbol of royalty and which were worn by many Kings and Queens of France. The set was finally broken up, with most of it sold off in 1885 by the Third French Republic...

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History

Until the beginning of the 18th century French kings wore plain crowns unembellished with precious stones. This was changed by King Louis XV

Louis XV of France

Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...

 in 1722, when he had a new crown created, which he had embellished with diamonds from the Royal Collection. He wore it at his coronation

Coronation

A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...

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The new crown was made by Laurent Ronde

Laurent Ronde

Laurent Ronde was the Crown Jeweller of France in the early 18th century. His most famous creation was the Crown of Louis XV, which he designed and manufactured and which was used as the coronation crown at the coronation of 1722 in Reims....

, the French Crown jeweller. It originally contained collection of Mazarin Diamonds and the famous 'Regent' diamond, which was set in the front of the crown, as well as hundreds of other precious diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

All of France's older crowns were lost, stolen or destroyed during the French revolution. The crown of Louis XV was the only one to survive.

In 1885 the French Third Republic decided to sell the Crown Jewels. Given its historic importance, the crown of Louis XV was kept, though its precious stones were replaced by glass.

It is on permanent display in the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

 museum in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

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