According to the Stockholm police, a remote alarm was triggered at the pavilion on the morning of August 6 at 2.01am, and police were on the scene 14 minutes later...arriving at the Drottningholm Palace's Chinese Pavilion only six minutes after the royal guards. But the culprits had already fled.

However, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and all other Royal Family members were absent that evening. Suspecting for that reason that professionals might have carried out an assigned break and entry mission, officers worked with palace officials in vain to determine if anything was missing.

Some glass cabinets that contained figurines were smashed, and spokesmen for the Royal Household said some of those objects might have been taken. The burglars made their getaway by boat, surmised police, who found tracks leading to the water banks from the palace.

Constructed in secrecy when King Adolf Fredrik wanted to surprise Queen Lovisa Ulrika with this as a present on their wedding in 1753, Chinese Pavilion is on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites. The interior of the pavilion is an outstanding example of rococo style.