If you've ever felt like a jabroni after losing your wallet, just say to yourself: "Hey, at least I've never lost track of a set of priceless Crown Jewels!" The same cannot be said, however, for 19th century booze-loving braggart, Arthur Vicars.
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00:00If you've ever felt like a jabroni after losing your wallet, just say to yourself,
00:04hey, at least I've never lost track of a set of priceless crown jewels. The same cannot
00:08be said, however, for 19th-century booze-loving braggart Arthur Vickers. In 1831, the Irish
00:13crown jewels were commissioned as symbols of the British crown's power over Ireland.
00:17Whenever the king or queen visited the island, the jewels — consisting of a jeweled star
00:22of the Order of St. Patrick and a diamond brooch and five gold collars — were kept
00:26there for the monarch and others to wear on formal occasions. According to History
00:29Ireland magazine, it was when performing duties related to the Order of St. Patrick, such
00:34as knighting people, that the ruler would wear the Irish crown jewels. At other times,
00:38they were stored securely at Dublin Castle, per the protocol of the Order.
00:41Clearly, said secure storage wasn't exactly airtight, and the monarchy would soon be waving
00:46bye-bye to the Irish crown jewels.
00:48The crown jewels!
00:49The crown jewels?
00:50Yes, the crown jewels.
00:52In 1903, security began to lapse, ironically, with the building of a new strong room at
00:57Dublin Castle. While the room itself was completed professionally, in a moment of pure farce,
01:01officials discovered that the safe in which the crown jewels of Ireland were traditionally
01:05kept was too big to fit into the room. The man in charge of the protection of the jewels
01:09was a man named Arthur Vickers, the Ulster King of Arms, who suggested that the safe
01:13be moved to his library.
01:15Despite having a long and distinguished career, Arthur Vickers was far from ideal for the
01:19job of Ulster King of Arms. He had a habit of showing the precious crown jewels of Ireland
01:23in his possession to his many guests, and often misplaced his keys, including those
01:28to the safe. In one instance, according to Dublin Castle, the crown jewels were stolen
01:32as a joke while Vickers was drunk. Talk about a prank, huh?
01:35I'm the best with the pranks, man. They call me Prank Sinatra.
01:38In early 1907, the Irish crown jewels were under lock and key in preparation for the
01:42summer arrival of King Edward VII, who was due to wear them at the 1907 Irish International
01:47Exhibition. However, things were off from June 28th to July 6th. According to Owlcation,
01:53in that time, Vickers lost his key to Bedford Tower, did nothing when the cleaningwoman
01:57later found the tower door unlocked, and also did nothing on July 6th when she found a strongroom
02:02key, which shared its ring with a library key in its lock.
02:05Hours later, according to Atlas Obscura, when the library's sentry was sent to put a repaired
02:09collar in the safe, he found it unlocked and almost completely empty.
02:13They've left to steal a crown jewel!
02:15Yep, the crown jewels. They were gone.
02:18As the dust settled and the Order of St. Patrick realized that they had been victims of one
02:21of the biggest heists in Irish history, the bizarre circumstances that led to the loss
02:25of the priceless crown jewels started coming to light, such as the fact that Arthur Vickers
02:29was something of a party animal who was so drunk that it affected the execution of his
02:33duties, like the protection of the Irish crown jewels.
02:36The crown jewels?
02:38Yes, the crown jewels.
02:40As noted by the Vintage News, Vickers himself, a prime suspect and desperate to prove his
02:44innocence, even went so far as to attend a séance that was recommended to him.
02:48He then spent time furiously searching a cemetery once it was claimed at this gathering that
02:52the jewels were buried there. They were not.
02:55Growing desperate, Vickers even considered bringing in his cousin, Sherlock Holmes author
02:59Arthur Conan Doyle, to use his crime writer's mind to potentially help crack the case.
03:03Of course, he was unsuccessful, and Vickers was eventually cast into exile, his career
03:07destroyed by the scandal.
03:09The Irish crown jewels were unable to be present at that year's Irish International
03:12Exhibition to the great embarrassment of King Edward VII.
03:15The ultimate fate of the Irish crown jewels remains a mystery to this day. They have never
03:19been recovered, and the original reward of 1,000 pounds that was posted for its recovery
03:24is still unclaimed over a century after the jewels went missing.
03:27In the years since, countless sleuths, both professional and amateur, have drawn their
03:31conclusions as to what happened to the priceless symbols of the Order of St. Patrick.
03:35While Arthur Vickers himself remained the prime suspect in many people's eyes, others
03:39claim that the jewels were stolen by Vickers' mistress and that she fled with them to France.
03:43However, after his frantic efforts to recover the jewels, Vickers himself eventually accused
03:47Francis Shackleton, the brother of the explorer Ernest Shackleton, who Vickers claimed had
03:51a key to the safe and used the jewels to pay his debts.
03:54Some modern researchers have agreed Vickers' story is possible, and that the thief likely
03:58got Vickers drunk to accomplish it.
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