{"id":268505,"date":"2025-11-07T09:34:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T09:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268505\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T09:34:20","slug":"history-mystery-solved-as-golf-ball-sized-diamond-reappears-after-100-years-in-unusual-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268505\/","title":{"rendered":"History mystery solved as golf ball-sized diamond reappears after 100 years in unusual location"},"content":{"rendered":"

A history mystery has been solved after a golf-ball sized diamond reappeared after 100 years in an unusual location.<\/p>\n

The 27-gram Florentine diamond belonged to the Habsburg family who ruled Austria for more than six centuries. <\/p>\n

Disappearing during the Second World War, and the subject of many rumours since, the diamond has now reappeared in a bank vault in Canada.<\/p>\n

When Charles I of Austria’s monarchy fell in 1918, he went into exile and sent the diamond, along with other precious royal jewels, to Switzerland for safe keeping. <\/p>\n

After the monarch’s death on Madeira, his wife Zita of Bourbon-Parma and her children moved to Spain and then Belgium.<\/p>\n

But as Nazi rule spread across Europe, Zita and her eldest son, Otto von Habsburg, were vocal critics of Adolf Hitler. <\/p>\n

Otto was declared an enemy of the state when the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938 and Zita was forced to flee Europe two years later. <\/p>\n

According to family members, Zita travelled to the US with her jewels in a cardboard suitcase, and then reached Quebec in Canada.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

PICTURED: A replica of the Florentine Diamond<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

One of Charles I’s grandsons, Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, said: “My grandmother felt very safe. She could breathe finally.<\/p>\n

“I assume that, at that stage, the little suitcase when into a bank safe, and that was it. And in that bank safe, it just stayed.”<\/p>\n

In 1953 Zita returned to Europe, and she died in 1989 aged 96.<\/p>\n

However, throughout the rest of her life, the diamond stayed in Canada, unbeknownst to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

HISTORICAL MYSTERIES SOLVED – READ MORE:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/p>\n

PICTURED: Charles I of Austria and his wife Zita of Bourbon-Parma<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Mr Habsburg-Lothringen added: “I think she wanted to make sure that it was not in her lifetime. <\/p>\n

“I have the feeling she was very glad that some important objects of the family are something that she had saved.<\/p>\n

“That was historically very important for her. Because she was somebody who was thinking very much in historic terms.”<\/p>\n

Christoph Kochert, whose family has run one of the oldest jewellers in Austria for generations, verified the diamond’s authenticity. <\/p>\n

\"Karl<\/p>\n

PICTURED: Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen and other members of the Habsburg family at Otto von Habsburg’s funeral in 2011<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

As well as using an electronic tester, he told the New York Times that the jewel’s cut pattern matched “almost exactly to representations in historical sources”.<\/p>\n

Remaining members of the Habsburg family want the diamond to be displayed in Canada to show their gratitude to the country which sheltered the former Queen and her children. <\/p>\n

However, Austria has launched an “immediate review” to determine if the diamond belongs to the country. <\/p>\n

Austrian Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler said: “If it turns out that the Florentine diamond is the property of the Republic of Austria, I will initiate the process of returning the jewel.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A history mystery has been solved after a golf-ball sized diamond reappeared after 100 years in an unusual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,2065,755,44,85,1346],"class_list":{"0":"post-268505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}