Doña Blanca de Borbón, Infantin von Spanien, ihr vollständiger Name Doña Blanca de Castilla Maria de la Concepcion Teresa Francisca d'Assisi Margarita Juana Beatriz Carlota Luisa Fernanda Adelgunda Elvira Ildefonsa Regina Josefa Micaela Gabriela Rafaela de Borbón y Borbón (* 7. September 1868 in Graz, Österreich; † 25. Oktober 1949 in Viareggio, Italien) war eine spanische Prinzessin und durch Heirat Erzherzogin von Österreich-Toskana.
Das Hortensia-Diadem war ein legendäres Schmuckstück, eine guirlande d’hortensia, das die französische Kaiseirin bei der Pariser Juwelierwerkstätte Nitot als Hochzeitsgeschenk für Catherine Königin von Westfalen, anlässlich der Hochzeit mit dem jüngsten Bruder von Napoleon Bonaparte, ihrem Schwager 1806, anfertigen liess.
Nach Fertigstellung durchliefen die kaiserlichen Aufträge eine Kostenkontrolle und man befand es zu kostbar, somit behiehlt Kaiserin Josephine die Hortensien girlande, für sich.
Sie bestand aus:
426 nachgeschliffenen Brillanten, welche die Blüten der Hortensie bildeten,
3.593 nicht nachgeschliffenen Brillanten,
588 holländischen Rosen, welche die Blätter bildeten,
dazu Arbeitslohn und Etui.
Der Gesamtwert betrug 51.777 Francs 46 Centimes. Die Experten konnten die kleinen Steine nicht vollständig zählen, ohne die Girlande zu zerlegen. Sie lobten aber ausdrücklich Zeichnung und Ausführung des Juwels und erklärten, dass es kaum billiger hätte hergestellt werden können.
Später hinterliess die Kaiserin diese Hortensien Girlande ihrer Tochter Hortense.
Königin Hortense war die Tochter des hingerichteten französischen Revolutionsgenerals Alexandre de Beauharnais. Dieser hatte sich schon früh von seiner Frau Josephine getrennt, die 1796 in zweiter Ehe Napoleon heiratete und acht Jahre später neben ihrem Mann in Paris zur Kaiserin gekrönt wurde. Auch nach der der Trennung von Josephine hatte Napoleon viel für seine Stieftochter übrig.
Hortense de Beauharnais, heiratete Bonapartes Bruder Ludwig und wurde so von 1806 bis 1810 Königin von Holland.
Nachdem Hortense 1837 in der Schweiz gestorben war, kam das berühmte Diadem in den Besitz der italienischen Linie des Hauses Habsburg-Lothringen. Das prächtige Geschmeide bestand aus 300 Karat schweren Brillanten, die in Goldblätter und Hortensien Blumen eingefasst waren.
Das Diadem hatte
1908 dem vor Kriegsausbruch verstorbene Erzherzog Leopold Rainer gehört, der es dem Erzherzog Leopold
Salvator geschenkt hat.
1900 hatte der Hojuwelier Köchert das Schmuckstück
mit 65,000 Florin bewertet, dem gegenwärtig ein Betrag (1937) von 300,000 bis 400,000
entspricht.
Erzherzog Leopold Salvator von Österrich Tosakana der mit der spanischen Prinzessin Blanca de Borbon verheiratet war.
Die erzherzogliche Familie hatte das
Diadem, als sie Mitte 1919 Oesterreich verließ, um sich nach Spanien zu begeben, mit
andern Wertsachen in Wien zurückgelassen. Es
befand sich seit Sommer 1919 in Verwahrung
des
früheren Hauslehrer der Familie, der besonderes Vertrauen genoß. Das Diadem war
im November 1919 von der Firma Omnia
gegen ein Darlehen von 3'3 Millionen in der
Hauptanstalt des Dorotheums in Wien ver
pfändet worden..
Weil das Hortensia Diadem bei einem Hauslehrer in Österreich versteckt war, damit es nicht von der Republik konfiziert werden konnte, sollte der ehemalige Marineoffizier J. Korwin unbemerkt nach Spanien holen.
Korwin und ein Geschäftspartner kommen dabei auf die Idee, sich den Familienschmuck zur Finanzierung von Export-Import-Gschäften mit Sigmund Bosels Omnia "auszuborgen".
Das Diadem wird für einen Kredit im Wiener Dorotheum verpfändet, die Omnia bekommt den Pfandschein die die Hand.
Als der Schwindel auffliegt, schrillen bei den rechtmäßigen Eigentümern des Diadems in Spanien die Alarmglocken. Der Familienschmuck liegt schutzlos in einem Pfandleihhaus in Österreich.
Erzherzog Leopold Salvators Sohn, Rainer schaltet Polizeipräsident Schober ein und macht ihm klar, dass sich das Diadem unrechtmäßigerweise im Dorothuem befindet. Schober sorgt dafür, dass das Schmuckstück geperrt und nicht verstiegert werden dar. In der Zwisschenzeit versucht die Erzherzogsfamilie, das nötige Gold usammenzukratzen um das Diadem auszulösen.
Als der damlige Dorotheum-Direktor Hallama aber in den Sommerurlaub geht, wird das Diadem am 7. Juli 1920, "unabsichtlich" in eine Versteigerung eingebracht und günstig an einen Unbekannten zugeschlagen.
Die Polizei leitet Ermittlungen ein, die zur Vermutung führen, dass Bosel das Schmuckstück über einen Strohmann ersteigert hat.
Den Beweis dafür findet man aber nicht, die Affäre verschwindet in der Versenkung. Das Hortensia-Diadem bleibt wie vom Erdboden verschluckt.
Erzherzogin Blanka, trug da prächtige, große Diamant Diadem, bei der Hochzeit von Kaiserin Zita und Kaiser Karl von Österreich, dies war wohl das letzte öffentliche Ereignis, das sie zu sehen bekam.
An der Hüfte ist eine Bordüre aus Diamanten drappiert, ein Diamant Diadem, ohne Rahmen, nach unten verlaufend, das später ihre Schwiegertochter, Prinzessin Ileana von Rumänien trug.
Ihr 3. Sohn Anton Maria Franz Leopold Blanka Karl Joseph Ignatius Raphael Michael Margareta Nicetas 1901–1987 Kaiserlicher Prinz, Erzherzog von Österreich, Königlicher Prinz von Ungarn, Königlicher Prinz von Toskana heiratete im Jahr 1931, Ileana Prinzessin von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Prinzessin von Rumänien.
Doña Blanca de Borbón, Infanta of Spain, was born in Graz on 7 September 1868 and died in Viareggio on 25 October 1949. Her full name was Doña Blanca de Castilla María de la Concepción Teresa Francisca de Asís Margarita Juana Beatriz Carlota Luisa Fernanda Adelgunda Elvira Ildefonsa Regina Josefa Micaela Gabriela Rafaela de Borbón y Borbón. By marriage to Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria-Tuscany, she became an Archduchess of Austria.
Among the jewels connected with her family was one of the most mysterious floral diamond ornaments of the nineteenth century: the so-called Hortensia Diadem, a magnificent jewel in the form of a hydrangea garland.
Empress Joséphine, Nitot and the Hydrangea Garland in Diamonds
The story appears to begin at the imperial court of France. Empress Joséphine ordered from Nitot & Fils, Paris, a splendid guirlande d’hortensia, a hydrangea garland in diamonds. It was originally intended as a personal wedding gift for Princess Catherine of Württemberg, the future Queen of Westphalia, on her marriage to Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon’s youngest brother and Joséphine’s brother-in-law by marriage.
The official expertise of the Nitot jewel, in 1806, gives a rare and detailed description of this extraordinary floral ornament. The hydrangea garland consisted of:
426 recut brilliant diamonds, forming the hydrangea blossoms,
3,593 non-recut brilliant diamonds,
588 Dutch rose-cut diamonds, forming the leaves,
together with the workmanship and its case.
The total value was 51,777 francs and 46 centimes.
The experts noted that the smaller stones could not be counted precisely without dismantling the jewel. They praised the design and execution in the strongest terms and declared that the work could hardly have been produced for less. This was therefore not merely a decorative court ornament, but a major floral diamond jewel by Nitot, composed with extraordinary technical refinement.
The archival documents state that the hydrangea garland was later diverted “for another use.” It therefore appears that the jewel did not enter Catherine of Westphalia’s possession as originally planned. Later tradition and surviving evidence suggest that the jewel, or part of it, passed to Joséphine’s daughter, Queen Hortense de Beauharnais.
Queen Hortense and the Hortense guirlande
Hortense de Beauharnais was the daughter of the executed French revolutionary general Alexandre de Beauharnais and of Joséphine. Her parents had separated before Joséphine married Napoleon in 1796. In 1804 Joséphine was crowned Empress of the French beside Napoleon in Paris.
Napoleon always retained a particular affection for his stepdaughter Hortense. She married his brother Louis Bonaparte and became Queen of Holland from 1806 to 1810. The hydrangea flower was closely associated with her name, making the jewel not only a masterpiece of imperial jewellery, but also a highly personal emblem.
After Hortense’s death in Switzerland in 1837, the famous hydrangea jewel is said to have passed into the Italian line of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Later descriptions speak of a magnificent diadem composed of about 300 carats of diamonds, set among gold leaves and hydrangea flowers.
In the Possession of the Austrian-Tuscan Line
By the early twentieth century, the Hortensia Diadem belonged to Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria-Tuscany, husband of the Spanish Infanta Blanca de Borbón. Earlier it had belonged to Archduke Leopold Rainer, who died before the First World War and had given it to Archduke Leopold Salvator.
In 1900, the Viennese court jeweller A. E. Köchert reportedly valued the jewel at 65,000 florins, a sum that was later estimated, in 1937, as corresponding to 300,000 to 400,000 schillings.
Archduchess Blanca is believed to have worn the great diamond diadem at the wedding of Archduke Karl of Austria and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, the future Emperor Karl and Empress Zita of Austria. This may have been one of the last public occasions on which the jewel was seen.
When Archduke Leopold Salvator and Infanta Blanca left Austria in mid-1919 for Spain, the family left the diadem, together with other valuables, in Vienna. From the summer of 1919 it was kept in the custody of the family’s former tutor, a person who enjoyed their particular trust.
The jewel was apparently hidden in Austria to prevent its confiscation by the new republic. A former naval officer, J. Korwin, was later supposed to bring the diadem discreetly to Spain. Instead, Korwin and a business associate appear to have used the family jewel to finance export and import ventures connected with Sigmund Bosel’s company Omnia.
In November 1919 the diadem was pledged at the main branch of the Dorotheum in Vienna for a loan of 3.3 million crowns. Omnia received the pawn ticket.
When the deception came to light, the rightful owners in Spain were alarmed: the family jewel was lying unprotected in an Austrian pawn house. Archduke Leopold Salvator’s son, Archduke Rainer, turned to Police President Schober and made clear that the diadem was in the Dorotheum unlawfully. Schober ensured that the jewel was blocked and should not be auctioned.
Meanwhile the archducal family attempted to raise the necessary money to redeem the diadem. But when the then director of the Dorotheum, Hallama, went on summer holiday, the diadem was “accidentally” included in an auction on 7 July 1920 and sold at a low price to an unknown buyer.
The police opened an investigation. Suspicion arose that Bosel had bought the jewel through a straw man, but proof could not be found. The affair disappeared from public attention, and the Hortensia Diadem vanished as if swallowed by the earth.
For a long time, no one knew what the Hortensia Diadem had looked like in detail.
A remarkable clue emerged from a monastery treasure: a branch of hydrangea flowers set with diamonds and leaves, preserved in a monastic collection and accompanied by notes stating that Queen Hortense had given it to the monastery on her way into exile.
This jewel is connected with Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland. During her flight from France, Hortense de Beauharnais spent several days there and, in gratitude for the hospitality she received, presented the monastery with a brooch in the form of a flowering hydrangea branch.
The brooch was later used to adorn the changing robes of the famous Black Madonna of Einsiedeln. Its deeper story was long forgotten until research into the abbey treasures brought the connection with Hortense and the Napoleonic imperial family back to light.
If this brooch indeed preserves part of the original Nitot hydrangea garland, it gives us the first tangible impression of the lost Hortensia Diadem: a floral jewel of extraordinary refinement, with diamond blossoms, leaves and delicate naturalistic movement.
The Hortensia Diadem links several great European dynasties: the Bonapartes, the Beauharnais family, the Württemberg and Westphalian courts, and finally the Austrian-Tuscan branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine through Infanta Blanca of Spain.
Its history moves from the splendour of Empress Joséphine’s court to the exile of Queen Hortense, from Habsburg family possession to the financial turmoil after the First World War, and finally to one of the most mysterious disappearances in royal jewellery history.
What survives today is not the lost diadem itself, but perhaps one precious clue to its appearance: the hydrangea spray associated with Queen Hortense, a jewel that may once have formed part of one of the most beautiful floral diamond creations by Nitot.
In the press of this days...
A former captain of the Austrian Imperial army. J. von Korwin, has been sentenced to a year’s imprisonment in connection with the mysterious disappearance of famous and historical jewel, the so-called Hortense diadem. The trial was a sensation in Vienna, not only because the jewel itself was of great historical interest and of great value, but because the people involved were famous. The owner of the jewel was the late Archduke Leopold Salvator, who left Austria after the 1918 collapse, and settled in Spain. One of the people who tried to buy it was the once famous banker, Sigismund Bosel. while the chief witness was the Archduchess Blanca, the widow of the late Archduke Leopold Salvator, whose diary, written in French, was produced in court. From the evidence of the Archduchess Blanca, it appeared that her family never Intended to sell the jewel. The diadem was a present of Napoleon I. to his step-daughter. Hortense Beauharnais (the daughter Josephine Beauharnais, Napoleon’s first wife) who later on married Louis Bonaparte, King of the Netherlands. Her third son was Napoleon 111., Emperor of France.
From Queen Hortense’s possession the jewel passed into the hands of the Tuscany branch of the Habsburgs. The evidence of the witnesses showed that when the Austrian Revolution broke out. the Archduchess Blanca became frightened, because she had read a book about the French Revolution and had come to the conclusion that “if there is a revolution, we must fly the country.” The family, therefore, tried to send the jewel out of the country, if possible, to Spain. In 1920 Captain Korwin volunteered to do so, and the Arch, duke gave him a letter, on the basis of which his trusted man in Vienna, who kept the diadem in hiding, handed over ' the jewel. In his diary, the Archduke said that he merely asked Korwin to smuggle the jewel into Spain, while Korwin said that he was told to dis¦ pose of it. He. therefore, pawned r in a shop at Dorotheum. It then disappeared.
Empress Josephine is pictured on the right side above, for an impression of such an enormous tiara, with an tiara of ears of wheat, which was arranged like the Hortense Tiara.
