Royal Items in a Swedish Cathedral Stolen

Seventeenth-century royal items were stolen from a Swedish cathedral. The heist, which took place on July 31 at the Strängnäs [STRAHNG-nahs] Cathedral, involved two golden royal crowns and a royal orb that were all covered with beads, pearls, and crystals. The crowns were owned by two of Sweden’s 17th-century monarchs, King Karl IX and Queen Christina. According to reports, the thieves stole the items by breaking a locked display cabinet, which was also set with alarms. A witness scheduled to get married at the cathedral a week after the heist also reported seeing two men escape the cathedral and ride a speedboat to evade capture. In early August, the police were able to identify one of the two men following a detective search in Stockholm [STOK-hohm] using helicopters, boats, and cars. However, the police were not able to recover all of the stolen royal items. The police believe that the mastermind behind the robbery may be a specialist collector or someone who is not aware of the items’ value. Despite the speculations, the police claimed that the thieves would be hard-pressed to sell the loot. This is because there is a limited market for the Swedish royal items. Additionally, the jewels are easy to spot because their images are popular in the media. The heist was all over the news, drawing the attention of international media as the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) ordered a warrant of arrest for the two suspects. Johan Dalman, the bishop of Strängnäs Cathedral, commented that what the thieves did was equivalent to stealing a part of Swedish history, thus offending the entire nation.