Lost for a Century: Habsburgs Say 137‑Carat "Florentine" Diamond Was Secreted in a Canadian Vault

Legendary Florentine Diamond resurfaces in Habsburg family account

The famed 137‑carat yellow pear‑shaped gem known as the Florentine Diamond — long thought lost after the collapse of the Austro‑Hungarian Empire — has reappeared in the family’s story. According to reporting in the New York Times, descendants of the Habsburg family now say the jewel was never sold or recut but kept secret in a Canadian vault for more than a century.

Once among the most prized stones of the Habsburg crown, the diamond’s trail went cold after World War I. In 1918, anticipating the end of Habsburg rule, Emperor Charles I ordered the dynasty’s jewels shipped to Switzerland as the family prepared to flee into exile amid Bolshevik and anarchist unrest.

The Florentine Diamond — a vivid yellow, pear‑shaped gem with a provenance that includes the Medici rulers of Florence — vanished from public view after the royal family left Vienna. For decades its fate inspired rumors that it had been stolen, smuggled, recut or otherwise lost, and it became the subject of novels and films.

Family account and secrecy

Karl von Habsburg‑Lothringen, 64, a grandson of Emperor Charles I, told the Times that the family’s version of events resolves the mystery. During World War II the family fled Nazi persecution and ultimately traveled to Canada via the United States. Karl suggested that a "little suitcase" carried by Empress Zita before arriving in Quebec contained the Florentine Diamond, and that the stone was placed in a vault in Canada where it remained unseen.

"She revealed the diamond’s location only to two of her sons, Archdukes Robert and Rodolphe, and instructed them to keep the secret for 100 years after Charles’s death in 1922," Karl said, according to the New York Times.

Empress Zita returned to Europe in 1953 and died in Switzerland in 1986. Karl says Robert and Rodolphe honored their mother’s instruction and later passed the knowledge to their sons, keeping the chain of custody tightly within the family.

Plans and documentation

The family says it does not intend to sell the gem and plans to display it publicly in a Canadian museum as a gesture of thanks to the country that sheltered them. They declined to speculate publicly on the diamond’s market value.

Recent archival discoveries and documentation reportedly corroborate earlier steps: that the imperial jewels were sent to Switzerland in 1918 and that the Florentine Diamond remained in Habsburg possession rather than being sold or recut. The new account, as presented by Karl, ties those archival records to the family’s oral history of wartime movements and long‑held secrecy.

Why it matters

Whether final verification will come from independent examination, public display or further archival release remains to be seen. If confirmed, the story resolves a century‑old mystery about one of Europe’s most famous gems and highlights how families and archives can reshape historical narratives.