Prince Murat: The royal jewels represent the ‘heritage of the French monarchy, the nation of France’

As French police, including 60 investigators, step up the hunt for the perpetrators behind the unprecedented theft of the Louvre museum’s priceless royal jewels, François Picard welcomes Prince Joachim Charles Napoléon Murat, descendant of Caroline Bonaparte. Prince Murat describes the Louvre as a “beautiful gift to humanity and the world.” And for him, this brazen act is much more than a personal loss. He regards the  incident as a veritable attack on the soul of France, striking at the very heart of its cultural heritage. These nine pieces of jewellery, once belonging to Empresses Josephine and Eugénie, reflect the enduring resonance of living history: here representing the First and Second Empires. He also addresses the broader concerns over museum security, transnational art crime, and the challenges of preserving history, culture and patrimony while having it on full display for the world to cherish.