The Last Treasure of the Habsburgs: The Secret Exile of the Florentine Diamond

Summary

A legendary diamond. A fallen empire. A secret kept for a century.

When the Florentine Diamond, a 137-carat yellow gem once worn by Habsburg emperors and Medici princes vanished in the chaos of WWI only to improbably reappear a century later in Canada, the art world reeled. How did one of Europe’s most storied treasures cross the Atlantic? And why was it hidden away in a battered suitcase belonging to Empress Zita, the last Empress of Austria, Queen Consort of Hungary?

In this gripping work of narrative history, Robin Siegerman follows the diamond’s extraordinary journey across five centuries: from the workshops of Renaissance Florence to the coronation halls of Vienna, from the downfall of an empire, to the quiet exile of a widowed empress who had lost everything but her dignity. Along the way, we witness wars, assassinations, arranged marriages, revolutions, political bargains and the intimate heartbreaks of a dynasty struggling to survive into the modern world.

Blending historical detail with human storytelling, The Last Treasure of the Habsburgs, reveals not just the fate of a jewel, but the human lives, passions and tragedies that shaped its path. A century-old mystery finally comes to light in this unforgettable tale of power, loss and extraordinary endurance. This is the true story of a jewel that survived the fall of an empire.