, wearing the
Mantle of Luís I, with the
Crown of João VI By the reign of King
Manuel I (1495–1521), Portugal had already a lavish set of jewels, the king having been one of the most powerful men in the world at the time and having been known to show off. In early 1581 King
António fled to France after King
Philip I was made the
King of Portugal. António took with him the Portuguese crown jewels, including many valuable diamonds. Being well received by the French Queen Consort,
Catherine de' Medici, he sold her some of the pieces of the Portuguese crown jewels in return for
France's support in his plans to reclaim the throne of Portugal and depose Philip I. After several failed attempts to reclaim the Portuguese Crown, António fell into poverty. His poverty led him to sell many of the remaining diamonds. The last and finest diamond of the Portuguese crown jewels, the
Sancy, would be acquired by
Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy, from whom it would make its way to
Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully. From Maximilien, the diamond would finally go to join the
French crown jewels. During the
Portuguese Restoration War,
João II of Braganza sold many of the Portuguese crown jewels to finance the war with Spain. When João II became King of Portugal as João IV and deposed the
Philippine Dynasty in 1640, he placed his crown with a statue of
Our Lady of Immaculate Conception and said that she was the "true Queen of Portugal". Since then, Portuguese monarchs did not have a
coronation but instead an
acclamation. Before the assumption of the Portuguese throne by the Philippine Dynasty, the Kings of Portugal used to be anointed and crowned in the
Jeronimos Monastery in
Lisbon. In 1755 the
Great Lisbon earthquake destroyed Lisbon and the
Paço da Ribeira, the Portuguese royal residence of the time. With the destruction of the palace, innumerable pieces of the Portuguese crown jewels of the time were destroyed, lost, or stolen. While his court was in
Rio de Janeiro,
João VI had a new set of Portuguese crown jewels made. Constructed by the royal jewelers at the workshop of António Gomes da Silva, the set most notably included a new crown and sceptre, among a plethora of jewelry pieces. The pieces from this era are the majority of the current set of jewels. When
Maria Pia of Savoy became
Queen Consort of Portugal, King
Luís I ordered many pieces of jewelry to be made, as it was a passion of his wife. Alongside this, he had a new royal mantle produced. When the Portuguese Royal Family
was exiled, many of the jewels were taken with Queen
Amélie of Orléans and Queen Mother
Maria Pia of Savoy on their respective exiles. In 2002 a large part of the Portuguese crown jewels were stolen from the
Museon in
The Hague, where they were on loan for an exhibition on European crown jewels. A total of 15 pieces had been loaned to the museum, with the six most valuable (irreplaceable) pieces having been stolen. Following an investigation by the museum and Dutch authorities, the Dutch government paid a sum of six million euros to the Portuguese government for reparation. The Portuguese crown jewels are currently kept at the
Ajuda National Palace, in
Lisbon. While the palace is a popular and important museum, the crown jewels were not on view to the public until the completion of the new wing of the Ajuda National Palace Museum in 2022. == Current crown jewels ==