A Member of the Queen's Staff Is in Jail for Stealing Items from Buckingham Palace and Selling Them on eBay

• A former catering assistant at Buckingham Palace named Adamo Canto is serving jail time after admitting to stealing items from the royal residence and selling them on eBay.
• Among the stolen items were official, signed photographs of Prince Harry, Prince William, and Kate Middleton and a royal state banquet album documenting Donald Trump's visit to the United Kingdom.
• The items were valued between $13,000 and $135,000, according to the prosecutor on the case, but the 37 pieces that were sold online brought in just $10,000, meaning Canto sold them for well under their actual value.

A lot of people dream of working close to the royal family. But, like contestants on The Bachelor, apparently, not everyone who embarks on that particular life journey is there for the right reasons.

Case-in-point: The story of Adamo Canto, a 37-year-old catering assistant at Buckingham Palace who is currently serving jail time for stealing from the Queen's royal residence and then selling the stole loot on eBay. Canto pleaded guilty to three counts of theft from the Palace between November 2019 and August 2020 and has been sentenced to serve eight months in jail, according to the BBC.

Canto reportedly stole a "significant quantity" of items, including signed official photos of Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate Middleton, a royal state banquet photo album of Donald Trump's visit to the U.K. (valued at $2,000), a Companion of Bath medal belonging to the Master of the Household, Vice Admiral Master Tony Johnstone-Burt, and a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order medal which was taken from the locker of former British Army officer Maj Gen Richard Sykes. The stolen pieces were were found by police in Canto's quarters at the palace's Royal Mews.

In total, Canto was found to have taken 77 items were taken from the palace shop in addition to pieces from staff lockers, the Queen's Gallery shop, and Prince Andrew's storeroom. According to the prosecutor on the case, Simon Maughan, the stolen items—totaling between $13,000 and $135,000—were listed for sale on eBay. Canto apparently sold a total of 37 of the stolen items on the website, earning just $10,000, which means the pieces were sold for "well under" their actual value, according to Maughan.