The Royal Family Just Caught a Palace Thief & What They Stole Is So Disturbing

Louisa Ballhaus
·2 min read

Well, file this under news we didn’t expect to hear about the royal family. Between November 2019 and August 2020, a Buckingham Palace staffer named Adam Canto was repeatedly stealing from the royal family items like medals and family photos, some of which he then resold on the internet, where his wares (37 items at the time of discovery) have been valued at up to $130,000 by prosecutor Simon Maughan, per BBC. Canto pled guilty to three counts of theft and is facing possible jail time — and the details of what the thought to take are bumming us out even more than the theft itself.

All in all, it doesn’t sound like Canto was following a particularly well thought-out plan with his robberies, with prosecutor Maughan attesting that he sold many items at “well under” their value online, and the areas he robbed ranging from the palace shop (from which he took at least 77 items), staff lockers, the Queen’s Gallery shop, and Prince Andrew’s storeroom.

As for what he took: a $2,000 photo album of Donald Trump’s visit to the UK, signed photos of Prince Harry, Prince William, and Kate Middleton (though not, to our knowledge, Meghan Markle), and a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order medal that had been gifted to a WWII veteran by the Queen.

As a royal staffer, Canto lived at Buckingham Palace in the Royal Mews, where many of the stolen goods were found. His crime was reportedly made possible by a change in his role due to COVID-19, which gave him greater access to certain areas of the palace. And while we’re glad he was apprehended now, his crime is a chilling reminder of how far people will go to invade the royal family’s privacy — and likely a sign to Meghan and Harry that they were right to step away.

Before you go, click here for the best tell-all books exposing royal family secrets. 

Commonwealth Day 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London on Commonwealth Day. The service is their final official engagement before they quit royal life. Picture date: Monday March 9, 2020. See PA story ROYAL Commonwealth.
Commonwealth Day 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London on Commonwealth Day. The service is their final official engagement before they quit royal life. Picture date: Monday March 9, 2020. See PA story ROYAL Commonwealth.

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