After more than a hundred years of mystery, the famed Florentine Diamond a 137-carat, pear-shaped gem glowing with its distinctive yellow brilliance has been rediscovered.
Believed lost since the early 1900s, the diamond once adorned European royals and was last known to belong to Emperor Charles I of Austria and Empress Zita. When the royal family fled Austria following World War I, the jewel was thought to have vanished forever.
However, the truth has finally emerged. According to a special report by The New York Times, Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, grandson of the imperial couple, revealed that his grandmother secretly carried the diamond along with other precious jewels in a simple cardboard suitcase through years of exile. Upon reaching Canada, she safeguarded the treasures in a bank vault, where they remained untouched for decades.
Only two of her sons were told of the diamond’s hiding place, sworn to maintain silence for a century after Emperor Charles’s death in 1922 — a promise that was faithfully kept. “The fewer who knew, the safer it was,” von Habsburg-Lothringen shared.
Experts have now verified the gem’s authenticity, confirming that the diamond’s intricate cut perfectly matches historical documentation of the legendary Florentine. After a century cloaked in secrecy, one of the world’s most storied jewels has finally re-emerged — a glittering link to Europe’s royal past.