A long-serving housekeeper used her 'privileged position' to steal expensive jewellery from her Jordanian princess employer before secretly helping sell it at auction, a court heard.
Maria Virgelina Taborda Henao, 71, was said to have used her nephew as a 'key conduit' to flog high-end items belonging to HRH Princess Firyal Irshaid worth tens of thousands of pounds.
Taborda Henao allegedly even stole the wedding ring given to her by then-husband Prince Muhammad bin Talal at their wedding in 1964.
Princess Firyal thought the item had been lost years previously before it was discovered among other allegedly stolen items at Taborda Henao's home in Fulham, west London, jurors were told.
Taborda Henao denies one count of theft at Southwark Crown Court. Her nephew, Julian Ramirez, has since fled the UK to Colombia but prosecutors said the pair were engaged in an 'extremely lucrative' joint enterprise.
Prosecutor Oliver Wellings told jurors: 'The prosecution relies on multiple lines of evidence to establish this defendant's responsibility for the theft of jewellery from Princess Firyal.
'That evidence includes her privileged position of trust as a key member of the house, her access to the Princess's personal possessions, the finding of stolen property and a wedding ring at her address in Fulham, the evidence identifying her nephew as a key conduit for the sale of stolen property, and the regular and substantial payments flowing from Mr Ramirez to her account.'
The court heard Taborda Henao had been working as the princess's housekeeper in Belgravia for more than a decade when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020.
Maria Virgelina Taborda Henao, 71, from Fulham, is accused of using her 'privileged position' to steal jewellery
The princess returned home to Jordan and left her housekeeper alone in the property.
Taborda Henao's sister, Teresita, who is Ramirez's mother, was allowed to move in temporarily to assist as a cleaner.
Princess Firyal was still in Jordan in November 2020 when she received a phone call from the House of JAR high-end jewellers in Paris saying an original item of theirs, a bespoke piece made for the royal, had been put up for auction in England.
The princess then identified other items of her jewellery had been made available for sale without her knowledge, and contacted the police.
Detectives arrested Taborda Henao at the princess's home and later carried out a raid on the suspect's property in nearby Fulham.
There, officers found items belonging to the princess including earrings and her wedding ring, the court heard.
Prosecutor Mr Wellings said: 'She (the princess) had considered that item to be lost, that she would never have given away such an important personal item.'
He said the princess then reviewed recent listings by Canterbury Auction Galleries and discovered several of her personal items had been listed in the last six months.
The defendant is alleged to have stolen items belonging to Princess Firyal Irshaid (pictured in 1997)
The court heard Princess Firyal returned to the UK when it became safe to do so and discovered 'much of her jewellery was missing'.
The prosecutor said: 'The only items which remained in her home were pieces of costume jewellery. She notes it would have been difficult in fact for a non-expert to distinguish the costume jewellery left behind and not stolen from the real thing.
'There were empty boxes where her real jewellery had been.'
Mr Wellings said the safe was locked but that neither the combination code nor back-up key would work.
The auction manager later told police he first met Ramirez in 2019 when selling a Patek Philippe watch – which did not belong to the princess – for more than £10,000.
Ramirez subsequently sold a series of items through the auction house, the court heard.
However, Mr Wellings said the 'operation was well and truly busted' when Princess Firyal contacted the auctioneers in November 2020.
Mr Wellings said: 'In other words, she told the auction house: You have in your collection stolen items that belong to me.'
The court heard Ramirez sent around £18,000 to his aunt, Taborda Henao, between June 2019 and November 2020.
Ramirez is believed to have fled to Colombia in October 2023 while still on police bail.
Taborda Henao, who was sat in the dock with a Spanish translator, denies theft.
The trial continues.