The family of Austria’s last emperor on Thursday announced plans to publicly display a private jewelry collection hidden in a Canadian bank vault since World War II.
The whereabouts of the jewels remained a family secret for more than a century.
What do we know about the Habsburg jewel trove?
After they were exiled from Austria in 1919 in the wake of World War I when Austria became a republic, the family of the last Austrian emperor had most of their belongings expropriated.
Only a small amount of personal property — including pieces of jewelry listed as private — was allowed to be relocated to Switzerland. The official crown jewels remained in Vienna and are on display there to this day.
Following her husband Emperor Karl I’s death in 1922, Empress Zita had ordered her descendants to keep the jewelry’s existence secret for 100 years for security reasons.
She and her children later faced persecution by the Nazi regime due to their outspoken opposition to Hitler’s dictatorship. The family escaped to Canada via France and Portugal shortly before their Belgian home was bombed by the Nazi German Luftwaffe at the outbreak of the war.
They crossed the Atlantic with the jewelery collection in a brown suitcase, bringing them to safety in Quebec in 1940.
Jewels include famous Florentine diamond
The surviving pieces include the famous Florentine diamond, which those outside the family had long thought lost, probably stolen.
The walnut-sized yellow diamond was once among the largest cut diamonds in the world, although not by modern standards amid advances in mining. It had been among the treasures of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence, and is also known as the Tuscan Diamond. It passed into the hands of the Habsburgs through marriage when the last of Florence’s Medici family died.
The collection also includes items once belonging to Empress Maria Theresa, Queen Marie-Antoinette, and Emperor Franz I. The jewelry’s authenticity has been verified by independent experts.
Habsburg family thanks Canada
In a statement, head of the family Karl von Habsburg, said the time had come for the public to see the jewels.
“As descendants of Emperor Karl I and Empress Zita, we are proud to share these culturally and historically significant pieces with the public,” he said, adding gratitude to Canada.
“We would like to extend our gratitude to the people of Canada, who provided a safe haven for our family in 1940, protecting them from extremely challenging circumstances.”
Von Habsburg said he only learned of the hiding place last year. Two of his cousins had then informed him about the safe deposit box. The jewelry is expected to go on display soon — initially in Canada rather than in Austria, the emperor’s grandson said.
The collection is now held in a Canadian trust, with the Habsburg descendants as beneficiaries. It will remain in Canada and be made publicly accessible in the near future, with details still to be announced.
The Habsburgs, with some interruptions, provided numerous Holy Roman kings and emperors from 1273 onward. After the dissolution of the empire in 1806, they became the Austrian imperial house, which lasted until the end of the First World War.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
