A Saudi princess has had £9-10m worth of jewellery stolen from her room in the Colonna Hotel in Porto Cervo,Sardinia.

The robbers used a master key to enter the room, and then removed the safe from the wall rather than opening it. This was relatively easy as the safe was simply set into the wall with silicon and the thieves took only around 10 minutes.

Italian and Saudi diplomats have been communicating about the incident, and the Italian Secret Service are to assist police.

The robbery is similar to one carried out in another, nearby, hotel in which a Moroccan businessman lost €150,000 (£127,600)'s worth of money and jewels.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi owns homes in the Costa Smeralda, where the hotels are located.

Police believe the use of master keys and the speed with which the safes were located suggests the thieves acted with insider help.