The was found treasure of the Habsburgsconsisting of some very precious jewels including the famous and very precious “Florentine Diamond”stored in a vault in Canada for over 100 years. The treasure had been hidden by order of Charles I in 1918 immediately before he abdicated and fled: his wife Zita, the last Empress of Austria, took it with her into exile as far as Canada. Here it was hidden, and it was ordered not to reveal its location until one hundred years after the death of the last emperor: today the hundred years have passed and now Karl Habsburg, Austrian entrepreneur and politician, current representative of the house and nephew of Zita, announced to the German magazine Der Spiegel the discovery of the treasure, and the authenticity of the jewels verified by an expert jeweller. In the treasure, in addition to the “Fiorentino”, there is certainly also a diamond bracelet watch: there is no news of the Crown of Empress Sissiwhich was part of it, but which appears to never have reached Canada.
What are the jewels that constitute the Habsburg treasure
The pieces of which there is certain information that constituted the treasure hidden by Count Berchtold are:
- The legendary “Florentine diamond”found: very precious stone of Indian origin with yellow flashes – 137 carats, weight of approximately 27 grams – about the size of a walnut, also known as “the stone of destiny”, with a long history also fueled by numerous suggestions and legends. It seems, in fact, that Charles I of Burgundy, known as “the Bold” wore it during the battle of Nancy in which he died in 1477: it was then taken over by the Medici family, who took it to Florence – and hence, probably, the name “il Fiorentino” – and it was then donated by Francesco Stefano di Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, when he married Maria Teresa of Austria in 1736. In 1810, then, Napoleon gave it to Maria Luisa of Austria on the occasion of their wedding.
- A diamond bracelet watch with a brilliant cut and a large emeraldrediscovered: it belonged to Empress Maria Theresa, who wore it during trips out of court and for holidays, and who then gave it to her daughter Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France.
- Empress Sissi’s diamond crownwhich is not among the pieces found.
The disappearance of the Habsburg treasure in 1918
It was Charles Ilast emperor of Austria, to order of hide the Habsburg treasure: on 1 November 1918 Austria rose up, and the sovereign understood that the situation was destined to worsen. A few days later he would abdicate, following the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian empire: on 4 November 1918, in fact, all war hostilities were suspended, on 11 November the emperor fled and the following day the Republic was proclaimed.
Charles I then ordered one of his most loyal collaborators, Count Leopold Berchtold, to hide the family jewels outside the countryso as to save them from possible looting, and preserve their value and memory.
Berchtold then recovered the precious jewels from the display cases of what until then had been the imperial residence, the Hofburg in Vienna: on 4 November, just as the Great War officially ended, the Habsburg treasure was hidden in Switzerland.
There is news of its conservation here until 1921, the year in which traces of it were lost: theft, dismemberment and sale to obtain cash were hypothesized, but today we know that the truth is different and that what remains of it had been taken to Canada.
The discovery of the treasure: what happened in these hundred years?
The announcement of the discovery of the treasure takes place in 2024 when, according to what was told by Karl Habsburgentrepreneur and politician living in Austria and descendant of the Habsburg house, two cousins telephoned him to announce the hidden treasure in 1918 it was in a vault in Canada.
The location of the jewels had been revealed to them by their common grandmother Zita, i.e Zita of Bourbon-Parmawife of Charles I who ordered the jewels to be hidden, last empress of the Austro-Hungarian empire, died in 1989.
Grandmother Zita had ordered the location of the jewels to be kept secret until the centenary of the death of the last emperor: Charles I died in Madeira in 1922so the centennial occurred in 2022, and in 2024 the grandson Karl Habsburg received the revelation.
So now we know what happened to the jewels: it was the former Empress Zita who recovered what she found in Switzerland – among these, even at the time, there was no Sissi’s crown – and hid them in a small brown leather suitcase and to take them with her in the long exile that, from Austria, took her to Canada.
The first place where the imperial couple took refuge was Madeira: here, in fact, Charles I died just a year after their arrival. Zita was alone, destitute, and the mother of eight children, including Otto, father of the entrepreneur Karl Habsburg: Zita moved to the Basque Country, then to Belgium where, between the 1930s and 40s, they found themselves in the hostilities that then gave rise to the Second World War. Mother and children fled again and crossed the Pyrenees to Spain: from here, in 1940, Zita and her children joined the little girl Sillery province, Canada, Quebec. Here, Zita hid the jewels and gave orders to keep their whereabouts quiet until the centenary of her husband’s death.
How much the treasure could be worth today and how the authenticity was verified
Karl Habsburg, after receiving the announcement from his cousins, went to Canada to view the jewelsand then summoned the current descendants of the official crown jewelers, AE Köchert, “Jewellers and Goldsmiths of the Imperial and Royal Court and Chamber since 1814”.
Köchert verified and confirmed the authenticity of the treasure with a portable carat scale, a refractometer and an electronic diamond tester.
Now, the fate of these wonders is uncertain: Karl Habsburg would like the jewels to be exhibited, but a possible claim by the Republic of Austria will have to be evaluated, just as happened for the other crown jewels, nationalized after the abolition of the monarchy and today preserved in Vienna as state property.
The current value of the jewels is also uncertain: as stated by the jeweler Köchert, it is certainly very highbut the actual value is discovered only when the treasure is sold, if it is sold at all.
