The Swedish Police Authority
Priceless treasures belonging to the Swedish Royal Regalia, including two crowns and a royal orb, were stolen from their display cases in Strängnäs Cathedral Tuesday. According to a Swedish Police Authority press release, the thieves swiped the crown jewels and were then seen jumping on a motorboat docked just below the church as they made their getaway. Police said boats and helicopters were dispatched in the chase, but they have yet to find the perpetrators. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the burglary happened around lunchtime, when the jewels were under lock and key in a public display case. A police spokesperson reportedly said that the thieves may have ditched their motorboat for a getaway car at some point, heading “west into the hinterlands, or east to Stockholm.” The crowns were the funeral crowns of Karl IV and his wife, Queen Kristina, and date back to the early 17th century. Thomas Agnevik, a police spokesperson, reportedly told Swedish TV that the items were “invaluable objects of national interest.”