TL:DR – Empress Crown Damaged as Thieves Drop It While Escaping from Louvre | News UK

• Empress Eugenie’s damaged crown was dropped by thieves during a Louvre heist on October 19, 2025.
• Four robbers stole eight treasures worth £76 million; all have been arrested, but the mastermind remains unknown.
• The crown is ‘badly deformed’ but ‘nearly intact,’ missing some gemstones.
• Restoration overseen by an expert committee from the Louvre.
• France will not receive compensation for the stolen items, which were uninsured.

Keywords: Louvre heist, stolen treasures, Empress Eugenie crown restoration.

Empress crown deformed after Louvre thieves dropped it fleeing | News World

The damaged crown of Empress Eugenie de Montijo after it was dropped during the heist (Picture: Thomas Clot / THE LOUVRE MUSEUM / AFP via Getty Images)

### Crown of Empress Eugenie Deformed

The priceless crown of a French empress is skewed and broken out of shape after thieves dropped it as they escaped the Louvre. Four hooded robbers brazenly broke into the Paris museum in broad daylight on October 19 and escaped with eight precious treasures worth £76 million. Police have arrested all four alleged members of the heist crew, but have yet to find the mastermind. They left in their wake the crown of Empress Eugenie, which is ‘badly deformed’ after the thieves tried to remove it through a narrow hole they had sawed in its glass display. However, the left-behind headpiece that belonged to the wife of Napoleon III can be fully restored, the museum said.

### Restoration of the Crown

It is ‘nearly intact’ with its 56 emeralds but is missing one of its eight golden eagles and 10 of its 1,354 diamonds. An expert committee led by the museum’s president, Laurence des Cars, has been selected to supervise the restoration. The four-minute heist took place just after opening on October 19, with visitors already inside. The thieves, posing as workers, used a truck-mounted device to reach the second floor before smashing through a window with power tools. Squeezing into the lavish Apollo Gallery, they cut through reinforced glass display cases and grabbed eight treasures before fleeing on scooters.

Prosecutors raced to arrest those involved in the robbery, with experts fearful that the priceless gems and rare metals would be melted down and sold.

The section of the Louvre where the thieves struck this morning (Picture: Metro Graphics)

The priceless stolen items from the Louvre were soon (Picture: Musee du Louvre)

### Stolen Treasures

Eight objects were taken, according to officials: a sapphire diadem, necklace, and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a reliquary brooch; Empress Eugénie’s diadem; and her large corsage-bow brooch — a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble. France will not receive a payout for the stolen, unretrieved jewels that were on display at the Apollo Gallery because they were not covered by private insurance. Authorities have also not tracked down the remaining missing jewels.