Soldier honoured for bravery played key role in recovering ‘priceless’ stolen antiques identified through 1990s’ Lovejoy episode, father reveals
A heroic soldier who was previously honored for his courage, III. It has been revealed that he played a key role in the recovery of ‘priceless’ altar plaques stolen from Napoleon’s tomb.
Two of three wooden prayer frames stolen during a burglary at a Hampshire abbey in 2014 have been identified and returned to their rightful homes with the help of a 33-year-old episode of TV show Lovejoy.
Grace Gostelow, a sergeant in the Royal Horse Artillery, came across the two items in a plastic bag in a warehouse at the base after they were discovered by soldiers at a nearby training area.
Realizing that his antiques dealer father could help, the 37-year-old – who now trains trainee soldiers at Pirbright Barracks in Surrey – asked up his chain of command for permission to send the works to Paul Gostelow.
Mr. Gostelow, 68, then asked a friend who was a metal detector expert to help identify the men.
It was he who recognized the Napoleonic coat of arms after remembering the 1993 episode of the comedy-drama starring Ian McShane.
Speaking from his home in Derbyshire, Mr Gostelow said: ‘It all happened because of my daughter. He said the frames looked kind of interesting and asked if he could bring them here.
‘They were found on the training ground at Pirbright by soldiers digging up a shell where they had taken shelter in open ground during an exercise.
Sergeant Grace Gostelow, who was seen giving a gun salute in Green Park, came across the prayer frames in her barracks and had her father, an antique dealer, examine them.
‘The frames were placed in a cage full of equipment and that’s where Grace found them.’
The prayer frames were stolen last week from the place where they were stolen 12 years ago. It was returned to St Michael’s Priory, near Farnborough, Hampshire, where Napoleon’s tomb lies.
Sergeant Gostelow, then a Lance Bombardier, received the Major General’s Award for Bravery after saving the lives of bystanders from a runaway gun carriage drawn by six frightened horses.
The freak accident occurred during a rehearsal in London’s Charlton Park in 2016.
He was left alone after the other riders were left barebacked; He managed to get the gun carriage and horses away from the spectators, but broke his neck after hitting a tree.
After lengthy rehabilitation, the soldier returned to the saddle for Queen Elizabeth’s Accession Day Gun Salute in Green Park in February 2019.
He was presented with a silver rescue by King Charles after leading the top gun team at the Royal Windsor Horse Show last May.
Mr. Gostelow described how the prayer frames were identified with Napoleon’s cannon and crown emblem.
Two ‘priceless’ prayer frames, III in 2014. It was among three prayer frames stolen from Napoleon’s tomb
Paul Gostelow sought advice from a metal detectorist friend who remembered the Lovejoy incident
He said: ‘It was my friend who came up with the emblem after remembering an episode where Lovejoy stumbled upon a toilet with the Napoleonic coat of arms.’
In a 1993 episode of the BBC comedy-drama, Ian McShane’s roguish antiques dealer discovers a bedside table purportedly belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte and attempts to flog the suspicious item after getting in trouble for his taxes.
Meanwhile, Lovejoy’s friend Tinker Dill tries to forge the emblem to be used on other items.
Mr. Gostelow and his friend found an old news article from the Anglo-Zulu Times, still online, reporting how the frames had been stolen.
It is unknown how they were dumped in the countryside.
After contacting police in Surrey, officers from Hampshire Police arrived last week to collect the frames and return them to the abbey.
After working as a police officer for 27 years, most recently as a Physical Education Instructor at Derbyshire Constabulary, Mr Gostelow, who turned to the antiques trade before retiring in 2003, said: ‘I am delighted that the frames have attracted such great interest that they have been returned to their rightful owners and have been able to re-decorate the walls of the tomb.’
The married father of two believes the moist conditions the frames were in ‘helped them stay together’ when away from the monastery.
Mr. Gostelow on his tablet computer with the Napoleon Nightstand in the 1993 Lovejoy episode
Lovejoy star Ian McShane pictured with questionable artifact on his Napoleon Nightstand
He said he was approached to help determine the origins of the frames ‘because of my interest in antiques’.
Hampshire Police said that ‘some investigations with the International Stolen Arts Register have confirmed that these are indeed (stolen) items’.
A force spokesman said: ‘In February 2014, the last Emperor of France, Henry III. The Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte was robbed and three unique, historically significant and priceless altar plaques were taken.
‘They were thought lost until 12 years later when a chance call was made by Mr Gostelow, who said he had two of the stolen plaques.
‘Paul knew they were from the Napoleonic period because of the cannon and crown in the corner of the frame; which was recognized from an episode of the 1990s TV series Lovejoy.
‘Officers traveled to Derbyshire to recover the items and PC Mark Webb (the force’s heritage crime expert) managed to return them to St Michael’s Priory in Farnborough for restoration and their place in the crypt.’
Police are still carrying out ‘a number of investigations’ to find the missing third plaque.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew III. After losing the Franco-Prussian war and being captured by the Germans, Napoleon fled into exile in England in 1871. He died in 1873 after surgery for bladder stones.
Paul Gostelow, left, with his daughter Grace, one of his two children (right)
Mr Gostelow, right, with PC Mark Webb of Hampshire Police, who came to collect the frames
Grace, on the second horse on the right, with King Charles at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 2025
In 1880 his widow, Empress Eugenie, bought a house in Farnborough and built St Michael’s Priory as a monastery, along with the Imperial Mausoleum, for the remains of her husband and son Napoleon, who died in the Zulu War in 1879.
When their son’s body was recovered from the battlefield, a number of handwritten prayers were found in Eugenie’s wallet, which she had engraved and mounted to create the prayer frames stolen during the burglary.
Brother Aelred Cuthbert of Saint Michael’s Monastery spoke of the joy shared by the monastery when they heard that their prayer frames had been improved.
He told The Daily Telegraph: ‘We had almost forgotten about them.
‘We were all so excited because visitors often asked, ‘Have you heard what happened to the altar cards?’ they would ask, so it was always a little depressing.
‘It was so long ago we thought we’d never see them again.’
