(Note: Image shows Windsor Castle - Buckingham Palace image to follow)

In 1982, Queen Elizabeth II woke up to find an unemployed labourer with a bloodied hand and a broken glass ashtray sitting on her bed.

Michael Fagan was (according to his mother) inordinately fond of the Queen. Perhaps this is why he allegedly chose her bedroom as the place he would commit suicide, but apparently then decided that it wasn’t “a nice thing to do” once he arrived. It wasn’t his first break-in to Buckingham Palace - a month previously, he’d wandered around the state rooms, helped himself to half a bottle of white wine, and then left when he was tired. Although the alarm had been raised when he’d been seen climbing the wall, no-one had been able to find Fagan, and he was able to leave without event.

On this occasion, he’d scaled the wall unseen at about 6am and found an open window. He’d wandered though the Palace, looking at portraits, sitting on the throne, picking up a glass ashtray and breaking it before making his way towards the Queen’s apartment. He met a housekeeper on the way who’d bidden him ‘Good Morning’, despite his unkempt appearance (a grubby t-shirt and bloodied hand). The officer who normally guarded the bedroom was out walking the Queen’s dogs.

When the Queen woke, Fagan was sitting on her bed, dripping blood onto the bedlinen. She rang for the police and in the interim very cooly chatted to the intruder about family, making two phone calls requesting police help during their chat. Apparently no-one realised the urgency of the call, and so the Queen was left with her uninvited guest for about 10 minutes before a housemaid entered and exclaimed “Bloody hell Ma’am! What’s he doing in there?!”.

Michael Fagan was charged with theft of half a bottle of wine (charges which were later dropped), and was not charged with any criminal offence. The British press were up in arms about how someone with mental problems was able to effectively walk in to Buckingham Palace - and the Queen’s bedroom.

For a more legitimate view inside the palace, you can view Will Pearson’s virtual tours of Buckingham Palace if you click here (the Grand Staircase) or here (the White Drawing Room).

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Tags: Buckingham Palace, intruder, michael fagan, queen, queen elizabeth

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 10:08 am and is filed under Buckingham Palace, London Facts, London History & Information, London Landmarks, London Virtual Tours. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.