At least he didn’t make it to her bedroom this time
An intruder pretending to be a priest spent the night eating and drinking with soldiers at the barracks in Windsor Castle in what has been described as an “extraordinary breach of security”.
The event took place last Tuesday evening but it wasn’t until 9.20am on Wednesday morning that police were alerted to the incident, The Sun reports.
The conman had turned up at Victoria Barracks, just yards from the castle where the Queen is currently living -although she was actually at Sandringham for Easter when the incident took place.
The man approached soldiers at the gate and reportedly claimed to be a priest and friend of the base’s padre. He was apparently eating and drinking in the officers’ mess and was later offered a bed for the night, despite having shown no identification.
According to reports, the intruder shared wild tales – claiming he had trained as an ejector seat test pilot and even had his organs removed and replaced with G-force resistant organs.
The conman was served breakfast before police were eventually alerted. Officers then escorted the trespasser away – a whole 16 hours after he had first arrived.
The Queen returned to her home a few hours later.
A source told TalkTV’s The News Desk: “This is just an extraordinary breach of security.
“The guy turned up at the gate in the evening and said his name was Father Cruise and claimed to be a friend of the battalion’s Padre Rev Matt Coles.
“He was invited in and offered something to eat in the Officer’s Mess.
“Within a couple of hours, he was drinking with the officers in the bar and telling them stories of how he had served in Iraq.
“He was telling lots of tall stories and the lads were enjoying his banter and having a few drinks.”
A Thames Valley Police spokesman confirmed they had been alerted to the incident on Wednesday.
They said: “Officers attended and removed the intruder from the barracks. No further action was required.”
An Army spokesperson confirmed to The Independent that an investigation had been launched, adding: “The Army takes this breach of security extremely seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated as a matter of priority.”
Of course, this is not the first time a man has intruded on the Queen’s property.
Michael Fagan became infamous for breaking into Buckingham Palace back in the eighties – not once but twice.
The first time he climbed up a drainpipe and startled one of the Queen’s housemaids but disappeared before guards arrived. Fagan later claimed he re-entered the building that night and enjoyed some cheese, crackers and wine in the palace before heading off.
However during the second incident, Fagan actually broke into the Queen’s bedroom.
Reports at the time suggested the Queen had a long conversation with Fagan to stall him while security was summoned. The incident was even depicted in a recent series of Netflix’s The Crown, where Fagan is shown trying to warn the Queen about Margaret Thatcher’s policies and their impact on the public.
Although the real-life intruder has since said this isn’t really how it happened.
According to Fagan, the Queen asked “What are you doing here?” and then left the room almost immediately.
“She walked out on her little legs,” he told The Guardian, “Then a footman comes in and goes, ‘You look like you need a drink, mate’.”
So, why did he do it?
Well, Fagan has suggested the whole incident stemmed from him putting too many magic mushrooms in his soup five months earlier. “Two years later I was still coming down,” he told The Independent, “I was high on mushrooms for a long, long time.”
Fagan’s actions were not considered a criminal offence at the time but he was sent to Brixton Prison and Park Lane secure mental institution on unrelated offences of taking a car and assault.
In the three decades since, he has been charged with assaulting a police officer, dealing heroin and indecent exposure, amongst other things.
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