A man scaled a fence and attempted to break into Buckingham Palace as Queen Elizabeth II slept, causing a panic at the royal residence.
A 22-year-old man is being held by authorities after breaching the palace boundaries at 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. It took on-site police about four minutes to detain the man as he banged on the doors of the palace containing the 93-year-old queen.
“There was an intruder at the Palace while the Queen lay sleeping in her bedroom and he was on the loose for a good few minutes before the cops arrested him,” a royal insider told The Sun. “He was determined to get inside the palace and was banging down the doors but, thank goodness, this time everything was locked up.”
The intrusion comes almost 37 years to the day since one of England’s most serious royal security breaches. Michael Fagan, a mentally ill unemployed laborer, notoriously broke into Buckingham Palace and entered the queen’s bedroom around 7 a.m. on July 9, 1982. While there, Fagan vented about his family problems and smashed a glass ashtray, threatening to slit his writs. Despite Queen Elizabeth II pushing the panic button in her room and calling the switchboard, no help arrived for some time.
“There is a genuine theory and very real fear that he could have been launching a copycat operation,” the insider said. The new intruder remains in custody.
