Protesters arrested after spreading custard and crumbs in King Charles case

Four protesters were arrested on Saturday after splashing food on the case of a priceless diamond-encrusted crown at the Tower of London.

The Crown Jewels display was closed after members of a group called Take Back Power spread apple crumble and poured yellow custard (two staples of British dessert menus) on the display case containing the Imperial State Crown worn by King Charles III during his coronation in 2023 and during his State Opening of Parliament speech in 2024.

The heavy crown, containing 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, four rubies and 269 pearls, was made for the coronation of Charles’s grandfather, George VI, in 1937.

Video of the stunt at the Tower of London, once a royal palace and also known as the prison where Anne Boleyn, Thomas More and others were executed, showed two protesters attacking the case as other visitors recoiled in shock. After an employee intervened and radioed for help, the two protesters displayed a sign that read: “Democracy has collapsed. Tax the rich.”

The Metropolitan Police said the protesters were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. The Tower of London was subsequently closed on Saturday.

The group, which advocates for a permanent citizens’ assembly and wants to tax extreme wealth, said two of its members had thrown away food and two others were also arrested and taken to “custard.” They identified two of the members as Miriam Cranch, 21, and Zahra Ali, 19.

“Our country is falling apart before our eyes,” Ali, a student from London, said in a statement shared by the group. “We have homeless people dying on the same streets that King Charles passed on his way to the coronation, while in this country there are more empty houses than homeless people.”

Many prized treasures and works of art have been targeted in an attempt to draw attention to political causes. Climate activists smeared Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, ​​Spainwith red and black paint. The action was intended to express indignation at summer forest fires that had devastated the country, according to the activist group.

In 2024, two paintings from the “Sunflowers” series by Vincent van Gogh were splashed with soup launched by protesters from the environmental group Just Stop Oil at the National Gallery in London. The artwork was not damaged thanks to the protective glass covers. Similar pieces, also by Van Gogh, were similar goal in 2022.

An environmental activist was arrested at the Orsay Museum in Paris after attaching a protest poster to a painting by Claude Monet. Another painting by Monet had thrown mashed potatoes on it while it goes on display in Germany in 2022.