Mystery of the missing Patiala Necklace has the world's seventh largest, the DeBeers diamond.

Mystery of the missing Patiala Necklace has the world's seventh largest, the DeBeers diamond.

பாட்டியாலா அரசரிடம் விசித்திரமான பழக்கம் ஒன்று உண்டு... ஆண்டுக்கு ஒருமுறை, 1,001 வைரக் கற்கள் பொருத்தப்பட்ட தங்கக் கவசம் ஒன்றை மார்பில் அணிந்து, பிறந்த மேனியோடு, கம்பீர நடை போடுவார். இருபுறமும் பிரஜைகள் நின்று, கை தட்டி மரியாதை செலுத்தியே தீர வேண்டும்

Mumbai: Maharaja Sir Bhupinder Singh of Patiala who ascended the throne in 1900 as an eight-year-old was the archetypal Indian potentate- scores of palaces, fleets of Rolls-Royces and a harem. But his prized accoutrement was the necklace fashioned for him by Cartier in 1928. It had five rows of platinum chains embedded with 2,930 diamonds, including the world's seventh largest, the DeBeers diamond.

Worth Rs 112.5 crore today, the necklace mysteriously disappeared after his son Maharaja Yadavindra Singh last wore it in 1948. It was recovered half a century later by Cartier representative Eric Nussbaum in London, but was a skeleton of its former self- gone were the DeBeers stone and most of its Burmese rubies. So Cartier set about restoring the necklace to its imperial glory minus the DeBeers and other original stones.

The Patiala Necklace, a documentary by French film company Ideale Audience Intl that premieres on Discovery Channel , tracks the story of the necklace using stocks of restored film footage and interviews with the present heir Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. 





"We tried to draw a parallel between the necklace and the Patiala dynasty which continues to be active in public life," says producer Francoise Gazio.