Next December, Miss France 2023, Indira Ampiot, will have to give way to a new beauty queen during the 94e edition of Miss France. As a reminder, Indira Ampiot, 18 at the time of her coronation, represented Guadeloupe. In 1930, a young Lyonnaise, Yvonne Labrousse, was elected Miss France in Paris. A few years later, in 1944, the beautiful brunette married Sultan Mohammed Shah, a wealthy Egyptian who inherited the title of nobility from Aga Khan III. Converted to Islam, Yvonne Labrousse then took the name of Om Habibeh, thus becoming the begum of the Ismailis, the direct descendants of her husband.
A billionaire, Mohammed Chah travels the world with his pretty wife who, thanks to this marriage, has gone from a modest life to a worldly life surrounded by luxury and comfort. Thus in August 1949, the couple made a stay in Cannes to take advantage of the sweetness of the Côte d’Azur… before being robbed. The Cadillac which transported them from their villa in Le Cannet to Nice airport is indeed attacked by a band of thugs who, in less than two minutes, take control of all their belongings.
As Priscille Lamure and Lavande Grimbert tell in the show France: A whole story on France Bleu, the amount of the loot amounts to 6 million euros of jewels with precious jewels, emeralds, rubies and above all a ring adorned with a 22-carat marquise, one of the largest diamonds in the world. world. It is also said that the former Miss France would then have shouted: “Heavens, my jewels!”which inspired the author Hergé to write the comic strip Castafiore jewels.
The Marseille police, who then take charge of the investigation, study several leads until some of the stolen jewelery is mysteriously found… deposited in a small package in front of the Marseille police station. The diamonds will not be returned to Yvonne Labrousse until the trial which takes place in July 1953 and during which the thieves will be condemned to forced labor.
ES