For more than 80 years, a collection of storied imperial gemstones—including a pale yellow diamond the size of a quail’s egg and a glittering watch once worn by Marie Antoinette—lay hidden in an improbable sanctuary. This week, the Habsburg family jewels are stepping out of a shroud of legal fog and secrecy to go on public display in Canada, the very nation where they were stashed for safekeeping at the dawn of the Second World War.
The Great Escape to Quebec
The treasures were spirited out of Europe by Zita of Bourbon-Parma, the last Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, as the Second World War erupted. For decades, historians presumed the hoard was lost to the ages. It was only last year that her grandchildren finally disclosed the truth: the jewels had been resting quietly in a bank vault in Quebec, the same province that sheltered the exiled royal family during the global conflict.
The journey of these heirlooms—which once adorned the Medici family and feature the staggering 137-carat Florentine Diamond—began in the chaotic aftermath of the First World War. Following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the newly formed Austrian Republic seized Habsburg assets in 1919. However, the family had already whisked their private jewellery to Switzerland. Emperor Charles died of pneumonia on the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1922, leaving Zita and her children to wander Europe as staunch opponents of the rising Nazi movement. When the Luftwaffe targeted their Belgian castle at the outbreak of the Second World War, the family had already fled.
A confluence of factors drew them to Canada. Quebec was a predominantly Catholic province, the children were already being educated in French, and the Canadian government warmly welcomed the exiled royals, arranging accommodation for them in the Quebec City area.
From Dandelion Soup to Imperial Splendour
Despite sitting on a secret fortune, the Habsburgs lived austerely.
Zita wore a widow’s black habit and reportedly made soup from dandelion leaves. The family hunted moose and spent their days cross-country skiing. After two decades on the run, the Empress found peace in her quiet Canadian refuge.
“She felt she had some of the best times of her life in Quebec,” Karl von Habsburg, Zita’s grandson, noted in an interview on Thursday.
Now, these historic treasures are being showcased at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City. The exhibition opens on Friday and serves as a heartfelt thank you to the community that took the family in. “Showing these jewels at the Musée is an expression of profound gratitude to Québec and Canada for welcoming and sheltering my grandmother and her eight children during World War II,” Karl von Habsburg said in a statement.
The display features an array of breathtaking artefacts. Among them is a diamond and yellow sapphire brooch worn by the 18th-century Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa on “festive sleigh rides, attached to the ribbon of her muff,” as well as a jewel-studded pocket watch that belonged to her daughter, the doomed Queen of France Marie Antoinette. Perhaps the most striking piece of all is the modest crocodile-leather suitcase Empress Zita used to carry her priceless cargo across the Atlantic—a far cry from the cardboard box family lore had long suggested.
