Thieves steal Queen Elizabeth II’s Andy Warhol print in Netherlands – but theft on the decline

“Amateur” thieves got away with an Andy Warhol screen print of Queen Elizabeth II as part of a botched gallery heist in the Netherlands.

Thieves blew open the gallery’s doors, stealing two works by the iconic American pop artist, gallery owner Mark Peet Visser said.

Two other prints were left badly damaged in the street after the thieves discovered they wouldn’t fit in the getaway car, he added.

The theft was caught on security cameras, Mr Visser said, describing it as “amateur”.

The gallery owner said “the bombing was so violent that my whole building was destroyed” and nearby shops were also damaged.

“So they did that part of it well, too well actually,” he added.

“And then they ran to the car with the fingerprints and it turns out they won’t fit in the car.

“At that moment the works are torn from the frames and you know they are damaged beyond repair, because it is impossible to remove them undamaged.”

Thieves hit the MPV gallery in the Dutch city of Oisterwijk early Friday.

Mr Visser said they were trying to steal four works from a 1985 Warhol series called Reigning Queens.

The series featured portraits of the then queens of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark and Swaziland, which is now called Eswatini.

The thieves escaped with his portraits Queen Elizabeth II and Margrethe II of Denmark, Mr Visser said.

But Queen Beatrix’s fingerprints from Netherlands and Ntombi Tfwala, who is now known as the queen mother of Eswatini, were abandoned.

Mr Visser did not place a value on the signed and numbered works, which were to be sold at an art fair later this month.

Forensic experts have been examining the badly damaged gallery and Dutch police are appealing for witnesses.