Norroy and Ulster King of Arms

No, he did not.

Because on the 6th of July, 1907, Sir Arthur Vickers, Ulster King of Arms, discovers that the so-called Irish Crown Jewels, for which he is solely responsible, are missing from a safe.

A safe that he has allowed to be stored not in the purpose-built strongroom, but in the library of his offices, where he regularly shows them off to visitors.

King Edward VII, due to visit in four days, is less than happy and is looking for someone to blame.

A damning judgment in black and white? The theft of the Irish crown jewels is Vickers' fault?

So, essentially, King Edward gets his wish.

Sir Arthur Vickers is stripped of his position as Ulster King of Arms.

Nearly the whole Office of Arms is cleared out, let go.

But one of the things he had done between 1903 and 1905, he revised the statutes of the Order of St. Patrick.

William Durham, curator at Dublin Castle, is talking about Sir Arthur Vickers, Ulster King of Arms, the man in charge of researching genealogy and coats of arms for wealthy families, and is responsible for keeping the Irish crown jewels safe.

The statutes are effectively the rules and the guidelines of how things should be done.

And as part of that, it was stated that the insignia of the Grand Master of the Order, a.k.a. the Irish Crown Jewels, should be kept in a safe in the strong room of the Chantry of the Order.

So that cast a bit of doubt on him.

I don't think that he was involved personally because of how much it ruined his career.

A career he was very proud of, like his whole life was being the Ulster King of Arms.

He was incredibly pompous and proud of that role that he had.

He passes on the information to Vickers.

Vickers is Sir Arthur Vickers, Ulster King of Arms, the man in charge here.

He just more or less dismisses it.

Is that so?

He was a young man and a young appointee and I think he had a great sense of his own ability.

Dr Susan Hood is a librarian and archivist.

She tells me about the Office of Arms and about the previous Ulster King of Arms, an older man who passes away in 1892 when a young vicar immediately makes a bid for the job.

He makes this pitch to become the Ulster King of Arms And it's accepted on the basis that he really does have the knowledge, particularly in genealogy.

It all began when the decision was made to move Ireland's Office of Arms to Bedford Tower in the ancient and imposing Dublin Castle.

The Office of Arms in Ireland was where the Ulster King of Arms presided.

Don't be confused by the title.

He was a civil servant, not an heir to a crown.

And anyway, for four years, the setup seemed fine.

The huge safe seemed safe enough in the library, despite the fact that that space was used as a waiting area for anyone visiting the officials working in the tower, meaning plenty of people would have seen where the safe was located.

Sure, those in charge should have made some other arrangement, but people get busy, and they must have figured the jewels were in a first-rate British-made safe, and it was secured by way of only two existing keys, and both were under the care of the man who bore the ancient title of, as I said, the Ulster King of Arms.

Since 1893, that man was Sir Arthur Vickers, a member of the poshy group of knights as established and chosen by the British regent, known as the most illustrious order of Saint Patrick.