Sunday, April 7, 2019

Olympia has her ring back

@Marlene A Eilers Koenig

French police have a suspect in the theft of a bag from Prince Jean-Christophe Napoleon's car on April 1.  The bag included a computer, identification cards an engagement ring worth more than one million euros.  The ring, set with seven little bees, each made with cut stones and a larger 40-carat transparent white diamond."  All of the diamonds were once owned by Empress Eugenie, the consort of Napoleon III.

Le Parisien reports that"An individual was placed in the custody of the chiefs of flight, swindle and attempted fraud, and the jewel found."

 "The investigators did a wonderful job. It was a real race against the clock because the thief could get rid of the jewel at any time," said a police spokesman.

Embed from Getty Images 

On April 1,  Prince Jean-Christophe and his fiancee, Countess Olympia von Arco-Zinneburg were visiting the Aubusson hotel to meet their parents.  The prince parked his Mercedes GL on a nearby street but did not lock the door.  The bag was on the passenger side.   The prince told the police that he was keeping an eye on the car.

The robbery was discovered after the couple returned to the car.     Prince Jean-Christophe questioned bystanders and then returned to the hotel to see if their CCTV's cameras would provide any information.  Unfortunately, the cameras were not pointed in the area of the car.  The couple then went to the police to report the robbery, mentioning the passports and the identification cards, but not the ring.  The couple returned to the hotel, where they were staying, and learned that one of the stolen cards was used at a sushi restaurant. which was followed by another charge at a nearby hotel.

The customer was described as "classy, northern European type who said he came from Belgium." The police are convinced that they believe that the person who used the credit card was the alleged thief, described as a 30-year-old Egyptian who was known to police,  is now in custody.



https://nationalpost.com/news/world/napoleon-descendant-in-race-to-help-solve-pounds-1m-jewel-theft

7 comments:

Diane Brown said...

So he knowingly left the car unlocked. They knowlingly left the bag on the seat. But he was "keeping an eye" on the car?
I think it is a good thing that these families no longer rule since common sense is lacking. Maybe they should obtain a ring from Walmart. Easily replaced. Really stupid behavior. Perhaps they should not be allowed to wear big girl and big boy jewellery till they grow up.

Bridget =) said...

I would love to see a picture of that ring!

Janet said...

I am still trying to understand why anyone would leave their engagement ring in a bag in an unlocked car I am further flummoxed by someone leaving a ring of such great value and great historical significance. While, I am glad the ring has been found and returned, I can only hope that in the future if Olympia doesn't want to wear the ring that they leave in a bank vault.

Reeves said...

I am just thankful the ring was found. I am confident that this is a lesson learned by this lovely young couple.

MBlueRose21 said...

My friends and I agree something about the whole situation is odd. Thank the Heavens that these people no longer decide the fate of nations! Did he want the stuff to be stolen and just made it look like something else for insurance purposes or something else? He didn't lock the car, but kept an eye on it...Sure. They didn't report the robbery for almost two whole days for the computer and ID papers and then waited almost an entire day later after that to report the ring stolen!

Manuel Diezx said...

The thief is described as "classy". I guess we have different ideas of what makes a person classy

MBlueRose21 said...

That part also really confused me! The hotel staff described also the guy as tall, charismatic, northern European. Sounds more like a relative to the couple then an Egyptian guy with a history of theft.