Habsburg family treasure hidden in Quebec for decades debuts at MNBAQ

The Habsburg family's imperial treasure — kept secret in a Quebec bank vault for more than eight decades — will be shown publicly for the first time starting Friday at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.

The collection includes objects belonging to Empress Maria Theresa, her daughter Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France, and Emperor Francis I. The centerpiece is the Florentin, a pale yellow diamond cut in a pear shape with 126 facets. The diamond vanished after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, sparking theories for a century that it had been stolen, sold, or recut to help impoverished Habsburgs. It was instead secured in a Canadian bank.

Empress Zita, grandmother of visitor Karl von Habsburg-Lorraine, left the collection in Canada when she returned to Europe with her family in the early 1950s. She attached a condition: the jewels would remain in the bank until 100 years after the death of her husband, Emperor Charles I. "She could have sold these treasures and dispersed them but she deliberately did not," Karl von Habsburg-Lorraine told Le Devoir. "She wanted these pieces to stay together for future generations, that there be no discussion, no question of ownership, nothing like that, that it stay, that it be kept for the generations that come."

Karl von Habsburg-Lorraine, who is also Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Fleece, made a brief visit to Quebec for the opening before returning to Austria. "At the time, I think my grandmother believed it would be safer here," he said.

The treasure's existence in Quebec was revealed only last autumn when The New York Times reported that the Florentin had been found in a vault. Experts, including those from the jewelry trade, have estimated the diamond's current market value at several millions of dollars, factoring in its rarity, historical significance, and comparable sales of large fancy-colored diamonds, though the family has declined to provide an official appraisal.

Austria is still examining whether it can assert rights over certain jewels removed from the imperial treasure in 1918. An Austrian government commission, known as the "Florentin Commission," is tasked with determining if the country has rights to the objects and whether those rights can be legally exercised. The commission's conclusions are expected this autumn. Italy has also examined the question due to the diamond's Florentine history.