The Irish Crown Jewels: Ireland’s Greatest Unsolved Heist

In Paris last week, thieves pulled off an audacious €88 million heist at the Louvre — but it’s not the first time priceless crown jewels have vanished from a supposedly impregnable fortress. Back in 1907, Dublin Castle — the heart of British rule in Ireland — was the scene of a theft so bizarre it remains unsolved to this day. The Irish Crown Jewels, a dazzling collection of emerald- and diamond-studded regalia, simply disappeared from a locked strongbox with no sign of forced entry. Sir Arthur Vicars, the man in charge, blamed poison; Scotland Yard blamed whiskey. And suspicion soon fell on Francis Shackleton (brother of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton), a charming chancer with debts, connections, and access. Even Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, took an interest. Yet more than a century later, the case is still wide open. Shane Beatty joins historian and broadcaster Myles Dungan to revisit Ireland’s most notorious unsolved crime, the missing Crown Jewels, and to ask what it is about these glittering mysteries that capture the public imagination from Paris to Dublin. Myles discusses his book from 2003, The Stealing of the Irish Crown Jewels: An Unsolved Crime, as well as his latest historical novel, The Red Branch, which is published by Etruscan Press and available in all good bookshops. 💎 Find out more about Myles Dungan’s work at mylesdungan.com You can listen back anytime on GoLoud or Newstalk.com, and if you’ve got your own theory about what happened to the jewels — email us at [email protected].