The last and longest private owner of the Hope Diamond, Evalyn Walsh McLean led anything but an ordinary life. Evalyn grew up a poor girl in a rough Colorado mining town where her father discovered one of the largest gold mines in the United States. The newly wealthy family relocated to Washington, D.C., where she met and married Ned McLean, who inherited the renowned Washington Post and the Cincinnati Enquirer. With the combined influence of the Walsh and McLean families, Evalyn developed friendships with the politically prominent in the nation’s capital and became the city’s favorite hostess. Notorious for giving magnificent parties, she counted the Tafts, the Hardings, the Coolidges, Alice Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover, and Ethel Barrymore among her many personal friends. The McLeans purchased the Hope Diamond when Evalyn was only twenty-four.Wagging tongues and the diamond’s supposed curse did not, however, prevent her from wearing it. She lost the diamond a few times, too, once by putting it around her Great Dane’s neck. When she left the Hope Diamond to her grandchildren in 1947, it was worth two million dollars. Evalyn loved her diamonds, but she loved children, pets, and life more. The deep indigo stone is but a single facet of her story. Her autobiography, Father Struck It Rich, became a best-seller in the mid-thirties. Now illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs, Queen of Diamonds is that autobiography with a foreword by her great-grandson and an epilogue describing the last decade of her life. Joseph Gregory is the grand grandson of Evalyn Walsh McLean. Originally from Louisville, KY, he was educated at Belmont University in Nashville and is president and founder of Hope Diamond Collection Inc., which has created its flagship fragrance, Fable, inspired by his great grandmother. Gregory travels around the world to speak about the Hope Diamond and how its legend has colored his life and the lives of his family. He lives and works in Nashville and New York. Carol Ann Rapp has published academic materials and poetry, and has served as a copy writer and speech writer. Rapp holds an M.A. in economics and also lectured at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. This is her first entry into biographical writing. She spends her time between Missouri and Colorado. Used Book in Good Condition