The 'Florentine' diamond, weighing over 137 carats and considered lost since 1918, had been kept in a bank vault in Quebec, Canada, for many years. This was reported by Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, head of the Habsburg family, in an interview with The New York Times and Der Spiegel.
In size, this gemstone is comparable to a walnut and ranks fourth in size in the world.
The jewel was taken out of Austria in November 1918 on the orders of Emperor Charles I, shortly before the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and was delivered to Switzerland.
The location of this treasure was kept secret for many decades in honor of Empress Zita, the wife of Charles I. She shared information about the diamond only with her two sons and asked them not to disclose it for a hundred years after her husband's death in 1922.
The family was forced to leave Europe and move to the USA, and then to Canada in 1940 due to threats from the Nazis. The empress transported the jewels in a small suitcase. In 1953, Zita returned to Europe but left the diamonds in a bank in Quebec for safekeeping.
According to Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, the 'Florentine' diamond will become part of a trust in Canada, and the family plans to exhibit it in one of the Canadian museums in the coming years.
