The Crown Jewels Heist — and the King's Pardon
On May 9, 1671, "Colonel" Thomas Blood nearly stole the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London — then was pardoned by the very king he robbed.
At seven o'clock on the morning of May 9, 1671, four men walked into the Tower of London and asked to see the Crown Jewels. Their leader, an Irish adventurer calling himself "Colonel" Thomas Blood, was dressed as a clergyman — and he had planned this for weeks.
Blood had befriended the elderly Keeper of the Jewel House, Talbot Edwards, with gifts of white gloves and flattery, even proposing that his "nephew" marry Edwards's daughter. That morning, Edwards led the visitors into the basement chamber of the Martin Tower, where the regalia sat behind a metal grille. The moment the door closed, the gang struck: they threw a cloak over the old man, gagged him, beat him with a wooden mallet, and stabbed him. Edwards survived — barely.
Then came the looting. Blood flattened the crown with the mallet so it would fit under his clerical coat. His brother-in-law sawed at the Sceptre with the Cross — it wouldn't fit in their bag, so they left the partly filed sceptre behind on the floor. A third man stuffed the golden Sovereign's Orb down his breeches.
They nearly got away. But Edwards fought free of his gag and raised the cry — "Treason! Murder! The crown is stolen!" — and his son, just returned from military service abroad, arrived at exactly the wrong moment for the thieves. The gang fled through the Tower with the hue and cry rising behind them, and Blood was seized at the gate. Caught red-handed, he declared cheerfully: "It was a gallant attempt... it was for a crown."
Blood was no ordinary thief. He had tried to seize Dublin Castle, plotted against the restored monarchy, and even attempted to kidnap the King's own favorite courtier. Everyone expected the executioner's block.
Instead, King Charles II summoned Blood — and pardoned him. Not only that: the King restored Blood's Irish estates, worth £500 a year, and made him a fixture at court. Historians still argue about why — fear of republican sympathizers, secret service, or simply admiration for the sheer audacity of the man.
Blood died in 1680, a celebrity. His body reportedly had to be exhumed to convince the public he was really dead. He remains the only person ever to have stolen the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London — and the only thief ever rewarded for it by his victim.
Photo: Henry Perronet Briggs, public domain (via Wikimedia Commons).
