Concealed For 100 Years By Empress Who Defied Hitler, Royal Jewels Thought Lost Set For Public Exhibit

Concealed For 100 Years By Empress Who Defied Hitler, Royal Jewels Thought Lost Set For Public Exhibit

A collection of jewels belonging to arguably Europe’s greatest ever royal dynasty is now set to go on display to the public for the first time in over 100 years.

The jewels, including one of the largest cut diamonds in the world when it was set, had been thought lost or stolen, but had in fact been kept in such secrecy, that even the patriarch of the dynasty himself didn’t know of their existence.

The House of Habsburg of Austria had existed as undisputed rulers of Austria since 1278, and provided crown-heads, empresses—kings and queens of all sorts—to Europe for centuries.

Following their exile in 1919, one year after World War I and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the family of the last Austrian emperor, Karl I, was forced to abandon most of their belongings, with only a small amount of personal property allowed to be relocated to Switzerland.

Among that personal property was a set of jewels—separate from the crown jewels which can be seen on display in Vienna today.

Empress Zita, Karl’s widow, and her children later faced persecution by the Nazi regime due to their outspoken opposition to Hitler’s dictatorship. In light of the threats to her family, Zita instructed her descendants for security reasons to keep the existence of the items in the collection private secret for at least 100 years following Emperor Karl’s death in 1922.

Life in tumultuous Europe went on, and shortly before the Luftwaffe bombed their home in exile in Belgium in May of 1940, the family managed to escape to Canada via France and Portugal.

From their new home, they continued to advocate for Austrian independence and the liberation of Central Europe. Along the voyage, Zita and her children carried with them a small, unassuming brown briefcase, concealed within which were the jewels which Zita later stored in a safe deposit box.

they consisted of 14 pieces, including a gold and emerald timepiece belonging to Empress Marie Antoinette, a diamond-inlayed merit for the Order of the Golden Fleece, and a 4-component hat pin crowed by the Florentine diamond, an enormous cut yellow diamond presented to the Habsburg dynasty at the passing of the last female member of the De Medici family.

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When it was cut, the Florentine diamond, also called the Tuscan, was one of the largest in the world.

Inside these and other treasures sat in the vault and faded virtually out of all knowledge, until in 2022, upon the 100th anniversary of Emperor Karl’s death, his grandson Karl, who doesn’t use the succession moniker in his position as a member of the European Parliament for Austria, learned not only of the existence of the jewelry, but of the wishes of Empress Zita to reveal them to the world.

“As descendants of Emperor Karl I and Empress Zita, we are proud to share these culturally and historically significant pieces with the public,” Karl, recognized as the head of the current, defunct royal house, said in a statement.

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“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.”

The possession of the jewels currently lies in a Canadian trust, with the Von Habsburg family as the beneficiaries. They will find a temporary new home at an exhibition in Canada, before eventually returning to their origin country.