Raymond J. de Souza: Hidden for more than 80 years in Canada, Habsburg jewels shine again

An insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, created in the 18th century by an unknown jeweller out of silver, gold, diamonds and tourmalines, is part of the Habsburg Jewels collection brought to Canada and hidden in a Quebec bank vault by Austria-Hungary's Empress Zita more than 80 years ago. The Empress's family has decided that the jewels will remain in Quebec as a sign of gratitude for the welcome their grandmother received. Photo by Saint Joseph Trust / MNBAQ / Louis Hébert

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QUEBEC CITY — Vast as the lands of the Habsburg empire were, they never included Canada. Until 1940, in a manner of speaking.

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Relics of that period, private jewellery of Empress Zita, including one of the world’s most prominent gems, the Florentine Diamond, went on display at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City on Friday. Canada’s royal history — first French, then British — is most evident in the city established by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. The Florentine Diamond is older than that.

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The Great War laid waste to royal houses. By its conclusion in 1918, the Russian tsar, German kaiser, Ottoman sultan and Austrian emperor were no more. The last emperor of Austria-Hungary, Karl I, was driven into exile in 1918, taking refuge in Madeira with his wife, Empress Zita, and his young and growing family.

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Emperor Karl I (Charles I), the last emperor of Austria-Hungary, and Empress Zita are seen with their son Otto in a photograph taken in 1916. The family was driven into exile two years later. Following her husband’s death, Zita eventually fled to Quebec with her children, bringing with her the Habsburg Jewels, which she hid in a bank vault. Photo by Heinrich Schuhmann / Wikimedia Commons

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Renowned for efforts to bring peace during World War I, and exceptional in his personal character and devout Catholic faith, Karl was beatified — the ultimate step before canonization — in 2004. The pope of the beatification, St. John Paul the Great, was named after him. His baptismal name of Karol (Charles, Karl) was given in honour of Emperor Karl; baby Karol’s father had served in the Habsburg armed forces. (Southern Poland was part of the Habsburg empire 1795-1918.)

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Blessed Karl died young, age 34, in 1922, leaving seven children and Empress Zita expecting an eighth. With the new Austrian republic unremittingly hostile to the remaining Habsburgs, Zita had to make a life for her family. She went first to Spain and then to Belgium. Watching the unfolding events of the 1930s, Zita and her eldest son, Crown Prince Otto, were fiercely anti-Nazi, greatly lamenting the Anschluss, Austria’s capitulation to Nazi Germany. When Hitler invaded France in 1940, it was evident that Belgium was soon to follow.

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Zita fled, zigging and zagging across Europe until she could book passage to New York, travelling on passports issued by neutral Portugal. Upon crossing the Atlantic to safety she decided to settle in the Sillery district of Quebec City, in a modest home called the Villa St-Joseph, owned by an order of Catholic nuns.

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The 137-karat Florentine Diamond, part of the Habsburg Jewels collection. Photo by Saint Joseph Trust / MNBAQ / Louis Hébert

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Zita chose Quebec City for three reasons. Of supreme importance to her and Karl was their Catholic faith, and she wanted a strong Catholic culture where she could easily attend daily Mass. Second, her children had already begun their education in French and, while her household was conversant in a half-dozen languages, she preferred them to continue in French. Third, there were some relatives in the area.

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Empress Zita lived happily in Quebec until 1953, when she returned to Europe to be closer to her grown children.

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Canadians are more familiar with the refuge sought in Canada by Princess Juliana of Denmark during World War II; Hitler also invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Princess Juliana gave birth to a daughter while in Ottawa, with the federal government making extraterritorial provisions so that the baby princess would be born on “Dutch soil,” preserving her place in the line of succession. The annual Danish gift of tulips for Ottawa’s eponymous festival is an expression of their gratitude.