An intruder who was allegedly high on drugs broke into the grounds of Windsor Castle last weekend.
William and Kate were at their home on the royal estate with their children when a man climbed over a perimeter wall.
The unarmed man was quickly arrested but the lapse is a major embarrassment to security services which became more vigilant after an incident on Christmas Day 2021, which saw an intruder armed with a crossbow breach the security cordon by the low-tech method of propping a ladder against a wall.
Police said that in the latest incident, the man, in his 30s, was grabbed by specialist officers and handed over to local police after scaling a wall near the town gate entrance to Windsor Castle.
He was arrested on suspicion of trespass and possession of a Class A drug. William and Kate were reportedly at their home, Adelaide Cottage, which is on the Windsor Estate, with their kids George, Charlotte and Louis.
A source told The Sun: “The intruder is believed to have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the break-in. He broke into the castle near town gate and was quickly detained by police. It was a crazy thing to do and caused quite a stir but at this stage it appears there was no intent to cause any serious harm.”
A Met Police spokesperson told the paper: “A man in his 30s has been arrested on suspicion of trespass on a protected site and possession of Class A drugs after entering restricted grounds at Windsor Castle. Officers in the grounds spotted the man just after 1300 hours on Sunday, 1 June and quickly arrested him. He was then passed into the custody of Thames Valley Police.”
Under British law, it is a criminal offense to trespass on the royal estate.
However there have been numerous breaches over the years.
Most famously, in 1982, Michael Fagan, an unemployed painter and decorator, made headlines around the world when he clambered through a window into Buckingham Palace in the early hours and spent several minutes talking to the late Queen Elizabeth II in her bedroom.
An arguably more perilous scenario unfolded in 2021 when a deranged, 21-year-old Star Wars fanatic, who had made a video declaring his intention to kill the queen in revenge for colonial-era wrongs, was arrested at Windsor Castle wielding a crossbow.
Jaswant Singh Chail, who had been spurred on by an AI chatbot, subsequently became the first person in 40 years to be jailed for treason, and was given a nine-year sentence.
A palace spokesperson has been approached for comment.
