The biggest royal jewelry story of the year was an unhappy one—the heist at the Louvre—but thankfully we also had a royal jewelry moment that involved the surprise return of a famous diamond, too. The penultimate spot on my countdown of the best moments of 2025 belongs to the revelation that the Florentine Diamond is safe in Canada.
The New York Times broke the news in November: three grandsons of the last Emperor and Empress of Austria had invited a reporter and a jewelry expert from Köchert to join them in Quebec to see something remarkable. In an undisclosed location, they opened a small cardboard suitcase that had belonged to their grandmother, Empress Zita. Inside was a treasure trove of jewels, including the 137.27-carat Florentine Diamond.
The light yellow diamond had long been thought to have disappeared, either sold or recut after the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. The diamond, which was mined in India, had belonged first to the Medicis and then to the Habsburgs for centuries. There had been no trace of the diamond for a full century before Prince Karl, Prince Lorenz, and Prince Simeon shared its existence with the world.
It turns out that Zita had taken the diamond and the other jewels with her into exile and carried them from country to country. She deposited the jewels in a bank vault in Quebec during World War II, and they’ve been there ever since. She shared their secret location with two of her sons, Prince Robert and Prince Rudolf, who later passed the information along to two of their sons, Prince Lorenz and Prince Simeon. When a century had passed since the death of Emperor Karl, they revealed the secret to the head of the family, their cousin Karl.
The New York Times article revealed the secret to the world this autumn. The family maintain that they have no plans to sell or relocate the jewels any time soon. As expected, though, the nations where the Habsburgs once ruled have begun to explore whether they have claims to the diamond. So far, no conclusions have been made.
I reported on the news of the Florentine Diamond’s reappearance back in November in the free midweek edition of Hidden Gems. (Be sure to subscribe to receive similar articles in your inbox each week!) Should we start the drumroll for the winner of the first place spot in our countdown ahead of its reveal this afternoon? I have a feeling some of you may know what’s coming…
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