At 31 years old, Michael Fagan managed to scale palace walls and make his way into Queen Elizabeth’s royal chambers while she slept the morning of July 9, 1982
In one of the most high-profile security breaches in royal history, 31-year-old Michael Fagan managed to scale palace walls and make his way into Queen Elizabeth’s chambers while she slept the morning of July 9, 1982.
The infamous break-in, featured in season 4 of Netflix’s The Crown, reportedly followed a night of heavy drinking for the unemployed decorator, motivating him to enter Buckingham Palace, uninvited, through an unlocked window, according to The New York Times.
Citing a report by Scotland Yard detailing the incident, the Times reports Fagan first entered a room on the ground floor of the palace on that fateful day.
Unable to make his way through the rest of the royal home, Fagan reportedly exited the window he came in, and used a drainpipe to shimmy his way to the rooftop, where he eventually accessed the Queen’s bedroom.
“They say she must have been frightened,” Fagan said, according to Town & Country. “I didn’t frighten her too much, but I was quite shocked,” he said, describing the moment he witnessed the Queen asleep in her bed.
“She used a phone on the bedside table to call security, but when nobody came, she got out of bed.”
“She said, ‘Just one minute, I’ll get someone,’ swept past me and ran out of the room, her little bare feet running across the floor,” he recalled, per the outlet.
During his 1982 court trial, the Queen’s footman Paul Wybrew said Fagan insisted on speaking with her Majesty, according to a report by The Guardian, at the time.
“The man seemed very tense, and I said: ‘Would you like a drink?’” Wybrew recalled. “Immediately, he became more affable and replied: ‘Yes please, I’ll have a scotch.’”
Fagan was reportedly met by authorities shortly after.
During his trial, Fagan described the palace’s security protocols as “weak,” according to the outlet, admitting he broke into Buckingham Palace twice.
“I walked straight in,” he said of the first incident a month prior, in which he claimed to have tried out several thrones. “I was surprised I wasn’t captured straight away. I could have been a rapist or something. I knew I could break the security system because it was so weak,” Fagan said.
He eventually showed himself out, according to the outlet.
Fagan was acquitted of trespass in the July 1982 incident.
Additionally, a jury found him not guilty of burglary in connection with the first break-in, the paper reports.
