"The family of Austria's last emperor on Thursday announced plans to publicly display a private jewelry collection hidden in a Canadian bank vault since World War II. The whereabouts of the jewels remained a family secret for more than a century. After they were exiled from Austria in 1919 in the wake of World War I when Austria became a republic, the family of the last Austrian emperor had most of their belongings expropriated."
"The official crown jewels remained in Vienna and are on display there to this day. Following her husband Emperor Karl I's death in 1922, Empress Zita had ordered her descendants to keep the jewelry's existence secret for 100 years for security reasons. She and her children later faced persecution by the Nazi regime due to their outspoken opposition to Hitler's dictatorship."
The Habsburg family plans to publicly display a private jewelry collection that was hidden in a Canadian bank vault since World War II. The family was exiled from Austria in 1919 and most belongings were expropriated; a small amount of personal property, including private jewelry, was allowed to be relocated to Switzerland while the official crown jewels remained in Vienna. After Emperor Karl I's death in 1922, Empress Zita ordered the jewelry's existence kept secret for 100 years. The family fled Nazi persecution and brought the collection to Quebec in 1940 in a brown suitcase. The trove includes the famous Florentine (Tuscan) diamond, previously considered lost.
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