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It was an ordinary Sunday night last month and the Prince and Princess of Wales and their young family were tucked up in bed as usual.
But just five minutes away from their home in Adelaide Cottage, two masked men had scaled a 6ft fence at Windsor Castle, snatched a quad bike from a barn and then used a stolen truck to smash through a security gate to escape.
The gate, which is inside the castle’s security zone and is regularly used by the family as it is their nearest one, was wrecked so badly that it needed to be replaced.
A source told The Sun the thieves ‘must have been watching Windsor Castle for a while’ as they knew exactly when to strike and how to escape without being caught. No arrests have been made.
News of the break-in has caused a security scare in royal circles, especially since it was reported last month that armed police have been removed from Windsor Castle’s two main public entrances due to a shortage of qualified officers.
However the brazen act of breaking into a royal estate, tightly guarded in a ‘ring of steel’, has happened quite a few times over the years – some of them more serious than others.
Here MailOnline recalls all of the royal break-ins, from the potentially dangerous to the outright bizarre.
William and Kate and their children George, 11, Charlotte, nine and Louis, six, are thought to have been asleep during the raid
Masked men scaled 6ft fences to sneak onto the Windsor Castle estate as the Prince and Princess of Wales slept nearby
The Shaw Farm Gate (pictured on November 18), inside the castle’s security zone, is regularly used by Prince William’s family as it is their nearest one. It was wrecked so badly in the raid that it had to be replaced
Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor Estate, where the Wales family were believed to have been sleeping during the theft
A map showing the location of Adelaide Cottage in relation to Windsor Castle
News of the break-in has caused a security scare in royal circles. It was reported last month that armed police had been removed from Windsor Castle’s two main entrances due to staff shortages
Michael Fagan – the man who broke into the Queen’s bedroom
Perhaps the most famous example of a royal break-in was when Michael Fagan snuck into Buckingham Palace in early July 1982.
On that occasion, he said he shimmied up a drainpipe before getting inside through an unlocked window on the roof.
He spent half an hour wandering around while eating cheese and crackers, tripping at least three alarms along the way. Incredibly, police turned them off, believing they were faulty.
After looking at royal portraits, entering the throne room and drinking wine, he became tired and so left without being caught.
A few nights later, he returned. He again got in by climbing a drainpipe.
Michael Fagan notoriously broke into the Queen’s bedroom in July 1982 and woke her up, before allegedly speaking to her for ten minutes
On July 9, 1982, Fagan broke into the Palace for the second time, early in the morning, and wandered into the Queen’s bedroom
Fagan initially went into an anteroom, where he cut his hand after breaking a glass ashtray.
Then, carrying a piece of the ashtray, he wandered into the Queen’s bedroom at around 7.15am. After waking up, she quickly pressed an alarm bell, but the policeman who had been on guard outside her room had finished his shift.
Her footman Paul Whybrew, then aged just 20, was outside walking the dogs and her maid was cleaning in another room, so no one came.
He spoke to Her Majesty for several minutes, allegedly while sitting on her bed.
The Queen ensured she kept talking to Fagan and, when a maid did return, the pair ushered him into a pantry on the pretext of giving him a cigarette.
Mr Whybrew, who served the Queen until her death in 2022, gave Fagan a glass of whisky to calm him down before police arrived.
Her Majesty also had to ensure that her corgis were kept out of the way as Fagan became increasingly agitated, before he was finally removed by arriving police.
The Daily Mail’s coverage of Fagan’s break-in and the security blunders that allowed it to happen
The then Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw, offered his resignation following the enormous security lapse, but Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to accept it.
Fagan was sent for psychiatric treatment at a secure mental hospital later in 1982 after pleading guilty in court to taking a car without the owner’s consent.
After the Queen’s death in September 2022, Fagan, who suffers from schizophrenia, said that he was ‘sad she is gone’.
The then 74-year-old said: ‘I have no plans to go to the funeral but I have been to church to light a candle for her and hopefully it is all behind me.
‘I think Charles will do a good job and look after the planet. He will be very good at that.
‘There is also too much division between the rich and poor in society and I think Charles will help heal that.’
Fagan’s break-in was depicted in the fourth season of The Crown. The criminal was played by Tom Brooke speaking to Olivia Coleman as the Queen while sat on her bed.
Michael Fagan was portrayed by Tom Brooke and the late Queen was portrayed by Olivia Colman in the fourth season of Netflix series The Crown
After the Queen’s death in September 2022, Fagan, who is schizophrenic, said that he was ‘sad she is gone’. Above: Fagan in the 1980s and in 2006 (right)
Man threw ‘shotgun cartridges into Buckingham Palace grounds’
In the days prior to King Charles’ coronation on May 6, 2023, Buckingham Palace was awash with soldiers and police officers.
But this didn’t stop one man approaching the gates of the palace on May 1 and throwing a ‘number of items’, later suspected to be shotgun cartridges, into the residence grounds before he was arrested.
News footage shows how the handcuffed suspect hung his head as officers took him into custody. Police later carried out a controlled explosion on a suspicious bag as a precaution.
A witness told The Sun that the suspect had stationed himself outside the palace over the ‘last few nights’ and was heard shouting: ‘I’m going to kill the King.’
Police said it was not a terror-related but was understood to have been treated as an isolated mental health incident.
Police carried out a controlled explosion on the suspect’s bag as a precaution. Officers are pictured at the scene, by the bag
Self-styled Sikh ‘assassin’ who tried to kill the Queen with a crossbow
Perhaps the most serious security breach in recent times was when a self-styled ‘assassin’ who declared ‘I’m here to kill the Queen’ broke into Windsor Castle on Christmas Day 2021.
‘Delusional’ Jaswant Singh Chail, then 19, climbed into the castle grounds with the weapon after sending a homemade video to friends and family on WhatsApp where he apologised for what he was about to do.
Calling himself ‘Darth Chailus’ and wearing dark clothes and a metal mask, the Star Wars fanatic had earlier described himself as a ‘sad pathetic murderous Sith Sikh assassin who wants to die’ during a chat with an AI girlfriend which had encouraged him to kill Elizabeth II.
In a clip posted before his arrest, the defendant, who has Sikh Indian heritage, said he was seeking revenge for the Amritsar massacre in 1919, when British troops opened fire on thousands of Indians and left up to 1,500 dead.
He embarked on his murderous mission after his bids to join the armed forces – to get close to the Royal Family – failed in late 2021, the court was told.
At the Old Bailey in October 2023, Mr Justice Hilliard sentenced Chail to nine years with an extended licence period of five years.
Self-styled assassin and Star Wars fanatic Jaswant Singh Chail, after his arrest on December 25, 2021
A lethal looking crossbow which Chail, 21, was carrying when arrested
CCTV dated 25/12/21 issued by the Metropolitan Police of Jaswant Singh Chail being arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle, the crossbow on the ground
Man broke into Buckingham Palace before claiming he didn’t know where he was and only wanted a wee
In August 2023, a 52-year-old man broke into Buckingham Palace but claimed he did not know where he was and that he was only searching for somewhere to urinate.
Thuraisingham Kumanaraj scaled the gates of the royal residence in August last year and managed to reach the courtyard, according to The Sun.
After setting off the security system at 9:30pm, the Met police took ‘around four minutes’ to arrive at the scene.
When questioned, Kumanaraj claimed he did not know where he was.
But officers seized his phone and found he had been searching the internet for Buckingham Palace as well as for several members of the royal family.
He later admitted trespassing on a protected site at Westminster magistrates court in May 2024.
Thuraisingham Kumanaraj scaled the gates of Buckingham Palace in August 2023
When ‘Batman’ got onto to the Buckingham Palace balcony
In September 2004, campaigner Jason Hatch from group Fathers 4 Justice managed to climb up to the balcony of Buckingham Palace while dressed as Batman.
Matt O’Connor, a spokesman for the organisation, claimed he ‘legged it past the armed guards’.
Hatch unfurled a banner which read: ‘Super dads of Fathers 4 Justice’.
His group, which was founded in 2001, wanted law changes to support fathers’ rights.
Another protestor, David Pyke, attempted to join Hatch while dressed as Robin but was stopped by police.
Fortunately, the Queen was away at Balmoral on her summer break at the time.
The following year, Pyke returned and was able to scale the Palace gates while dressed as Father Christmas.
In 2004, campaigner Jason Hatch from group Fathers 4 Justice managed to climb up to the balcony of Buckingham Palace while dressed as Batman
The Daily Mail’s coverage of Jason Hatch dressed as Batman scaling Buckingham Palace
The teenage radical who wanted to put a gun to Queen Victoria’s head
Queen Victoria survived seven attempts on her life. The penultimate one, in 1872, came when the monarch was inside the perimeter of Buckingham Palace.
Teenage radical Arthur O’Connor, aged just 17, had initially tried to ambush the Queen as she attended a service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
He had wanted to put a gun to her head and force her to sign a document that would have secured the release of Irish republican prisoners.
But two days after the plot failed, O’Connor, who was the great-nephew of famous Chartist Feargus O’Connor, headed to Buckingham Palace and was able to climb over the fence undetected.
When the Queen arrived back at the palace after a trip out, he ran to her carriage and tried to put his plan into action.
Teenage radical Arthur O’Connor, aged just 17, scaled the Palace fence and ran at Queen Victoria’s carriage, depicted above
But he was quickly thwarted by her loyal manservant John Brown.
O’Connor was quickly mocked by the press, denounced by the Irish republican movement and was sentenced to a year’s hard labour.
Victoria complained about his light sentence and so the teenager was persuaded to leave the country. He headed to Australia and was meant to remain there, but instead came back to England less than a year later and returned to Buckingham Palace.
After being confronted again, he explained that he had hoped to be killed by police. O’Connor spent much of the rest of his life locked up in asylums.
The teenager who stole Queen Victoria’s knickers
More than three decades earlier, 14-year-old Edward Jones sealed his place in history when he broke into Buckingham Palace and stole Victoria’s knickers.
Remarkably, Jones was able to get into the palace on three separate occasions between 1838 and 1841.
On one of the occasions, he was able to read a letter that he took from her private rooms and was then caught with women’s underwear spilling from his trousers.
He also sat on the Queen’s throne, read books from her library and stole food from her kitchen.
Writing in her journal, the Queen said: ‘But supposing he had come into the Bedroom, how frightened I should have been.’
Dr Jan Bondeson, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University who spent five years researching and writing a book about Jones, told how he got into the palace through unlocked doors or unshuttered windows on the ground floor.
Edward Jones sealed his place in history when he broke into Buckingham Palace and stole Victoria’s knickers
A pair of bloomers which were worn by Queen Victoria are seen above when they went up for sale in 2008
He added: ‘There was no royal security in those days.’
After being caught, Jones was initially sentenced to three months in prison as a rogue and vagabond but, when he kept stalking Victoria, the government ‘kidnapped’ him and sent him on a ship to Brazil.
When he returned, he was put on a prison ship and kept there for six years.
He became an alcoholic on his release and then turned to burglary before being deported to Australia.
Jones did return to Britain but was persuaded to go back to Australia, where he died an alcoholic in 1893.
What other security breaches have there been at Buckingham Palace?
July 1992 – Kevin McMahon, 25, was arrested inside the grounds for the second time in a week.
During his first sortie, he forced a helicopter carrying the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to divert as he roamed the grounds.
1994 – A naked paraglider landed on the roof of Buckingham Palace. American James Miller was fined £200 and deported.
1995 – Student John Gillard rammed the Palace gates in his car at 50mph, tearing one off its hinges.
November 2003 – Daily Mirror journalist Ryan Parry sparked a major alert when he managed to become a footman using false references and infiltrated the workings of the Queen’s London home in November 2003.
Parry claimed he was given the chance to get close enough to the Queen to have poisoned her and said no rigorous checks were made into his background. He took pictures of the bed in which US president George Bush and his wife Laura were to sleep during a subsequent state visit.
Climate change activists scaled the Palace gates in 2012
2012 – Four climate change activists were arrested for scaling the Palace gates and chaining themselves to the railings.
Two of them held a banner carrying a quote from the Prince of Wales reading: ‘The doomsday clock of climate change is ticking ever faster towards midnight. We are simply not reacting quickly enough.’
September 2013 – A man scaled a fence at the Palace and was found in a room that had been open to the public during the day. Another man was arrested outside the Palace. Less than 48 hours after the incident, two police officers confronted the Duke of York in the Palace gardens demanding to know who he was.
2013 – A man with a 6in kitchen knife was rugby-tackled to the ground by police outside the Palace after he jumped over a vehicle barrier in an attempt to see the Queen. David Belmar admitted trespass and possession of a bladed article. The court heard that he wanted to see the Queen because he was unhappy with his benefits.
November 2015 – Activists climbed on the roof of Buckingham Palace in a protest over fathers’ rights. Martin Matthews, 48, and Bobby Smith, 33, used a ladder to breach security after another campaigner caused distraction outside the Palace.
2016 – A musical group claimed to have ‘gatecrashed’ Buckingham Palace, fooling guests at a private art talk. In a video uploaded online, Cat’s Eyes said they had previously attempted to get into the Palace to perform a song from their new album. The group said they pretended to be a Renaissance ensemble performing music from that era, when really they gave a live rendition of their own song, We’ll be Waiting.
Convicted murderer Denis Hennessy broke into Buckingham Palace gardens in 2016
In a separate incident in May of the same year Denis Hennessy, 41, wandered through the royal gardens for up to ten minutes, before asking armed officers, ‘Is Ma’am in?’
The unemployed Irishman was oblivious to the security alert he had caused as the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of York were rushed to safety.
After the drunken trespasser was confronted just 50 yards from the palace, investigators were shocked to discover his past conviction – which saw him jailed for life at the age of 18.
He had bludgeoned homeless man Kevin Cusack to death with a 10in iron bar outside a North London fish and chip shop, in an attack compared to scenes from the ultra-violent film A Clockwork Orange.
One detective said the case was the worst he had seen in his 27-year career. Hennessy was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey.
2018 – Steven Lawlor was jailed for 28 days after he trespassed into the grounds of Buckingham Palace and damaged items before falling asleep.
He broke poster boards and glass cabinets fixed to metal railings so he could use them as bedding.
2021 – Danriel Brydges scaled two fences to gain access to the gardens at Buckingham Palace in December 2021.
Brydges, who was ‘fixated’ on accessing royal grounds, had travelled from his home in Portsmouth and attempted to get into the palace a month before but was not charged.
The intruder, 33, admitted two counts of trespassing and damaging the barbed wire fence ‘belonging to the Queen’s Estate’.
District Judge Annabel Pilling sentenced him to 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and said he must not go within 100m of a royal residence.
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