The furniture fraud who hoodwinked the Palace of Versailles

Bill Pallot and Bruno Desnoues falsified 18th-century furniture they said belonged to French royalty.

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Thought to be the most expensive chairs made for Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France's Ancien Régime, they were stamped with the seal of Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot, a celebrated cabinet maker who worked in Paris in the 1700s.

A significant find, the pair were declared "national treasures" by the French government in 2013, at the request of Versailles.

The palace, which displays such items in its vast museum collection, expressed an interest in buying the chairs but the price was deemed too dear.

They were instead sold to Qatari Prince Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani for an eye-watering €2m (£1.67m).