Nicole d'Oliva

Nicole Le Guay

Marie Nicole Le Guay d'Oliva (Paris, September, 1761 – Fontenay-sous-Bois, 1789), was a French prostitute. She is known in history as one of the participants of the famous fraud known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.

She was born in Paris as the daughter of Claude Le Guay and Marguerite David. She was orphaned early in life, and was forced to rely on prostitution to suport herself. She called herself 'Baroness d'Oliva', and prostituted herself in the gardens of the Palace Royal in Paris.

In the spring of 1784, she was contaced by , spouse of . She was hired by them to pose as queen Marie Antoinette in a late night meeting with in the garden of Versailles. During the meeting, she was to deliver a few words, a rose and a letter. The meeting was a crucial part of the fraud Affair of the Diamond Necklace, and the intent was to convince the cardinal that the queen was indeed involved in the affair.

In the summer of 1785, the fraud was exposed in Paris. On 16 October 1785, Nicole d'Oliva was arrested in Brussels in the company of a man named Toussaint de Beausire. She was transferred to the Bastille, were she gave birth to a child. All of the accomplices were put on trial.

Nicole d'Oliva stated in her trial, the she had not been aware of the fraud. She had participated in the famous meeting, but she had not been aware of the purpose of it. As far as she knew, she had simply been hired to play an acting role.

The court believed in Nicole d'Oliva's statement that she had been unaware of the fraud. She was the only person involved in the fraud who was freed in court with the exception of cardinal de Rohan. After the trial, she had an affair with her defense lawyer. She died only four yers after the trial, as a guest in a convent.