The Hope Diamond -- the largest and most beautiful dark blue diamond ever found -- has inspired legends and lies, fabulous superstition and fierce passion. For three centuries it passed from hand to hand, and from country to country. It may have served as all-powerful eye in a Hindu statue, was worn by three French kings amidst the splendours of Versailles and was stolen in a farcical jewel heist during the terrors of the French Revolution. Rescued and adored by a rich Dutch art connoisseur, the diamond later became the subject of a long and bitter London court battle, whose every sensational detail was splashed across the tabloid newspapers of the day.