King Charles’ Precious Family Heirlooms Stolen in Violent Axe-Wielding Heist
The British royal family has a vast collection of artwork, tapestries, ceramics, textiles, weapons, armor, and jewelry. Many of the objects from the royal collection are on loan to museums around the world and recently axe-wielding thieves made off with some heirlooms that belonged to King Charles‘ great-grandfather, King George V, and great-grandmother, Queen Mary.
Here’s more on the crime, when it was committed, and where the monarch was while the items were being taken during a violent heist in broad daylight.
The axe-wielding assailants stole heirlooms while the museum was open
Newsweek reported that the burglary happened at the Musée Cognacq-Jay (Cognacq-Jay Museum) in Paris on Nov. 20. It occurred while King Charles was in London meeting with the Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and her husband, Tony Viscardi.
The brazen robbery did not take place after hours or under the cover of darkness, the thieves actually committed the crime while the museum was filled with visitors and guards were present. The burglars stormed past those inside and used axes to smash open the glass display cases.
According to French media, authorities addressed the “violent robbery” in a statement saying: “The theft of seven works of art, including snuffboxes of great historical and heritage value on loan from the Louvre, the Royal Collection Trust, and The Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, as part of the Luxe de poche exhibition.
“Investigations linked to the inquiry and the assessment of this immense loss are underway. Paris Musées and the City of Paris strongly condemn this criminal act and reaffirm their support for the staff present, who demonstrated great professionalism and an exemplary attitude in the face of this situation.”
How much the stolen pieces are valued at
Two of the items stolen were pieces on loan from The Royal Collection Trust.
One was a snuffbox which was a gift for King Charles’ great-grandfather, George V, on his 55th birthday in 1920. It is described as a “Cartouche-shaped, gold and lapis lazuli snuff box with tapering sides and oval agate base.”
The second stolen snuff box was purchased by Queen Mary in 1932. The Royal Collection Trust has described that as a”Green jasper snuff-box, mounted with gold borders, finely chased with flowers and foliage in vari-colored gold. This spectacular bloodstone box is encrusted with nearly three thousand diamonds backed with delicately colored foils in shades of pink and yellow … The snuff box is unique among the surviving Frederick the Great boxes for both its elaborately chased vari-colored gold mounts and its particularly lavish use of diamonds.”
The stolen boxes are valued at around $1 million. The museum in the French capital will remain closed until Dec. 10 as the investigation into the robbery continues.
