Luxembourg Jewellery Theft: December 2018

**Marengo** · #1 12-18-2018, 07:14 AM

Yesterday the Belgian police detained a man in Schaerbeek, Brussels, on the request of the Luxemburg court of justice. The man was questioned the entire day by the Lux. police about a jewel theft in the Grand Ducal palace.

The suspect goes by the initials J.V. and is a visagist from Brussels. Among his clients are Queen Mathilde, Queen Paola and Princess Claire. He also worked for various royal ladies at the wedding of HGD Guillaume.

Earlier this year jewels went missing from the Grand Ducal palace in Luxembourg Ville. The police did not find any traces of forcing entry and they assume the theft must be done by somebody with access to the palace.

J.V. denies he had anything to do with the theft. After questioning he was allowed to go home. The investigation continues. The Lux. newspaper Wort did approach the GD palace. The palace confirmed the theft and the questioning of the suspect. They could not comment more as they did not want to jeopardize the investigation.

According to Wort: "The Luxembourg Public Prosecutor's Office reported that a complaint had already been filed on 22 June 2017, after which an international request for mutual legal assistance was initiated."

https://www.wort.lu/de/lokales/juwel...2b657ad3b9c01d

Hofleverancier opgepakt in onderzoek naar diefstal kroonjuwe... - De Standaard

http://www.lalibre.be/lifestyle/roya...70e3d2f7505a31

maria-olivia · #2 12-18-2018, 07:31 AM

Should it be Bouzouk we saw so often on TV ? He is Fournisseur de la Cour.

**Marengo** · #3 12-18-2018, 07:41 AM

The initials are J.V. . Apparently Bouzouk's last name is Vandamme. Perhaps Bouzouk is a nom de plume and his real name starts with a J.?

The articles mention that the suspect has a royal warrant (fournisseur de la Cour), which I suppose is not something a lot of make-up artists will have. Mr. Vandamme is indeed fournisseur de la Cour.

His blog was discontinued in 2013 but it seems he did the make-up for many royals, including Q. Rania (on her visit to Belgium), Pss Alix de Ligne (at her wedding), the GDss and HGDss of Luxembourg for a photoshoot etc.
http://bouzouk-make-up.blogspot.com/

Edit:

Article from The Guardian: here.

Kataryn · #4 12-18-2018, 08:03 AM

On the link posted above his email adress is given as bouzoukjlv@skynet.be - so the J.V. initials could be a good fit.

maria-olivia · #5 12-18-2018, 10:09 AM

A lot of friends went to Bouzouk for a special Event. They paid 100 euros . He uses Lancome items

Blog Real · #6 12-18-2018, 10:46 AM

What jewels were stolen?

maria-olivia · #7 12-18-2018, 11:06 AM

. Why such a long tome to make it public.

SLV · #8 12-18-2018, 11:22 AM

Oh dear. I had not heard about this before.

carlota · #9 12-18-2018, 04:51 PM

what bad news. which jewelry was stolen exactly? it is a real shame, i hope they are able to find the burglar.

i guess with this, paired with staff venting about kate and meghan's relationship not long ago, the courts will start being more careful with royal staff and with who gets access to them.

**An Ard Ri** · #10 12-18-2018, 05:35 PM

Yes I too was wondering what jewels were taken?

maria-olivia · #11 12-18-2018, 06:42 PM

Did they have a state Visit just before June 22th 2017

Duc_et_Pair · #12 12-18-2018, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

. Why such a long tome to make it public.

When the thief is sitting on hot coals, he can destroy or disappear the stolen items. My guess is that the discretion helps the police investigation.

Prisma · #13 12-19-2018, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Did they have a state Visit just before June 22th 2017

Yes, state visit from Portugal 23-24 May 2017.

Tarlita · #14 12-19-2018, 02:06 AM

Well I sincerely hope the police are able to discover and return the jewels before they are lost forever. Luxembourg has such a wonderful jewel collection.

Curryong · #15 12-19-2018, 02:09 AM

I suppose a State Visit would mean several more casual visitors to the Palace than usual, jewellers and hairdressers, flower arrangers and makeup artists, a dressmaker or two returning garments from running repairs etc. There could be a host of opportunities...

Saragli · #16 12-19-2018, 02:24 AM

Hopefully they only stole those awful citrines or amethysts.

Duc_et_Pair · #17 12-19-2018, 04:04 AM

Some foreign media report that "Crown Jewels" were stolen, which is nonsense. By my knowledge Luxembourg has no "Crown Jewels". Or they mean the most important jewels like the Nassau Empire Diadem or so.

The complaint was laid down at June 22nd 2017, the day before the Fête Nationale. Maybe it was only back then that the theft became clear?

https://www.wort.lu/de/lokales/juwel...2b657ad3b9c01d

**Marengo** · #18 12-19-2018, 04:28 AM

That is a likely scenario indeed. That it took a while to discover perhaps means that no large pieces were stolen. If the theft was an inside job it seems easier to take away some smaller trinkets.

I suspect that 'crown jewels' was used in error and they meant royal jewels. Neither the court nor the police specified what kind of jewels were stolen.

--

Royalblog writes that the man in question is indeed Jean-Luc Vandamme of salon Bouzouk in Schaerbeek, Brussels. Mr Vandamme has been taking care of Mathilde's make-up since 1999.

If he is innocent -he was only detained for questioning after all- this must be a great personal drama for him. Why he would be risking his entire carreer is not clear.

maria-olivia · #19 12-19-2018, 07:50 AM

The Grand Duchess was wearing always the same tiara the belgiaan scroll tiara.

Duc_et_Pair · #20 12-19-2018, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

The Grand Duchess was wearing always the same tiara the belgiaan scroll tiara.

It can also be a diamond bracelet, a fleur-de-lys broche, a pearl hatpin, an emerald pendant, a horloge, etc. theft is theft, of course.