Widely considered to have been one of the most famous people in the world while she was alive, protecting Queen Elizabeth II was one of the most daunting security tasks of her reign.
However, in July 1982, the biggest safeguarding breaches in royal history would reveal major flaws in how the police protected the Queen when schizophrenic Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace not once but twice.
On his first venture into the palace, Fagan entered the home by shimmering up a drainpipe and through an unlocked window. Although he was spotted by a member of staff the on duty police officers did not believe her.
Fagan then tripped three alarms but the coppers again ignored the warning system and instead switched them off believing it to be faulty.
Now safely within the palace, having evaded detection, Fagan was able to roam freely inside for the next 30 minutes.
During his time in Buckingham Palace he admired the artwork, had a foray into the throne room and drank from a bottle of wine that was among presents sent to Prince Charles and Princess Diana following the birth of Prince William.
Fagan even found time to eat some cheese and crackers while he roamed the corridors of Britain’s most famous royal residence.
After polishing off Charles and Diana’s wine, Fagan left Buckingham Palace perhaps resolute that having entered so easily the first time he might as well make a second visit.
Michael Fagan was behind one of the biggest safeguarding breaches in royal history when he broke into Buckingham Palace not once but twice
Queen Elizabeth II in 1982. Fagan entered Her Majesty’s bedroom at 7am before she was rescued by her footman
Fagan’s break-in was depicted in the fourth season of The Crown. The criminal was depicted by Tom Brooke speaking to Olivia Coleman’s Queen while sat on her bed
At around 6am – 43 years ago today – Fagan once again entered the palace.
His story has changed on multiple occasions but it is understood that Fagan initially went into an anteroom, where he cut his hand after breaking a glass ashtray.
The barefoot and tipsy 33-year-old entered Her Majesty’s bedroom just over an hour later where he spoke to the Queen for several minutes, allegedly while sitting on her bed.
The Queen quickly pressed an alarm bell, but the policeman who had been on guard outside her room had finished his shift.
Another alarm that Fagan had tripped before he entered the Queen’s bedroom was turned off by police, who again thought it was faulty.
She was rescued by the arrival of Paul Whybrew.
The devoted footman, then aged just 20, was outside walking the dogs when he came to her aid.
Whybrew, who served the Queen until her death in 2022, gave Fagan a glass of whisky to calm him down before police arrived.
On July 9, 1982, Fagan broke into the Palace early in the morning and wandered into the Queen’s bedroom
A sketch of Fagan speaking to the Queen in her bedroom on the morning of July 9, 1982
The Queen is said to have kept talking to Fagan to keep him calm, while she waited for someone to come to her aid.
When a maid did return, the pair ushered Fagan into a pantry.
He allegedly kept saying to Whybrew: ‘I want to talk to the Queen, My Queen.’
The footman said: ‘All right, but let her get dressed first.’
Fagan allegedly then kept trying to walk past the footman, but Whybrew stood in his way.
Whybrew said in his police statement at the time: ‘The man still seemed very tense and I said: “Would you like a drink?”
‘Immediately he became more affable and replied, “Yes please. I will have a Scotch.’
After he gave him a glass of whisky, a policeman arrived and Fagan was arrested.
The breach led to a massive increase in the number of officers patrolling Buckingham Palace and significant improvements were made to perimeter security
The Queen is said to have kept talking to Fagan to keep him calm, while she waited for someone to come to her aid
When asked his name, he told officers: ‘Rudolph Hess from Spandau.’
The extraordinary lapse in security shocked both the general public and the Metropolitan Police.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher rushed to apologise personally to the Queen and Scotland Yard admitted there had been a serious breakdown in protocol with officers failing to act properly.
It led to a massive increase in the number of officers patrolling the grounds and significant improvements were made to perimeter security.
The then Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw, offered his resignation following the enormous security lapse, but Thatcher refused to accept it.
Fagan was not charged with trespassing in the Queen’s bedroom because, at the time, such an action was a civil wrong rather than a criminal offence.
He was however charged with the theft of the wine during his first visit but was found not guilty in a trial at the Old Bailey.
The jury decided that he did not enter the Palace with any dishonest intention. He had insisted that he drank the wine because he was thirsty.
Fagan in 2006. After the Queen’s death in September 2022, Fagan said that he was ‘sad she is gone’
The Queen was rescued from her predicament with Fagan by the arrival of her devoted footman Paul Whybrew. He was made famous by his performance alongside the Queen and Daniel Craig in the sketch filmed for the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony
Fagan also issued a ‘sincere apology’ to the Queen’.
He said via his solicitor: ‘Along with everyone else in the world, I love Her Majesty the Queen, I have the deepest respect, the deepest respect for her.
‘I would do nothing to embarrass her. I know she likes to help people and I thought she would like to help me.
‘Your Majesty, please excuse my intrusion into your privacy – I didn’t realise it would become a world topic.
‘All I wanted to do was to discuss my personal problems, but the way I went about it has embarrassed Your Majesty’s family.
‘You were wonderfully understanding with me and I know you will understand that this apology is written in all sincerity.’
Fagan was sent for psychiatric treatment at a secure mental hospital later in 1982 after pleading guilty in court to taking a car without the owner’s consent.
He was freed in January 1983. In 1984 he attacked a policemen in a cafe in Fishguard, Wales, and was given a three-month suspended prison sentence.
Police officers outside Buckingham Palace. After Fagan’s break-in Scotland Yard admitted there had been a serious breakdown in protocol with officers failing to act properly
Daily Mail coverage of Fagan’s break-in from the time
Fagan was then found guilty of indecent exposure in 1987 after a female motorist saw him running around with no trousers at a waste ground in Chingford, Essex.
In 1997, Fagan, his wife and their son Arran were charged with conspiring to supply heroin. He went to prison for four years.
He claimed in an interview in 2012 that the Queen was wearing a nightie with ‘Liberty prints’ that went ‘down to her knees’.
Speaking to the Independent, he also refuted the claim that the Queen kept him talking to keep him calm.
‘Nah! She went past me and ran out of the room; her little bare feet running across the floor,’ he said.
He added that Her Majesty’s accent was ‘like the finest glass you can imagine breaking’ as she allegedly said: ‘Wawrt are you doing here?!’
Fagan’s break-in was depicted in the fourth season of The Crown. The criminal was depicted by Tom Brooke speaking to Olivia Coleman’s Queen while sat on her bed.
The saga was also depicted in 2012 drama Walking the Dogs, where Eddie Marsan depicted Fagan and the Queen was portrayed by Emma Thompson.
In the years since Fagan’s infamous break-inb, there have been other trespassers who have managed to enter the grounds of Buckingham Palace
Fagan slammed Brooke’s portrayal, saying the star looked ‘too ugly’ and claiming he had ‘no charisma.’
After the Queen’s death in September 2022, Fagan said that he was ‘sad she is gone’.
He said: ‘I have no plans to go to the funeral but I have been to church to light a candle for her and hopefully it is all behind me.’
In the years since Fagan’s infamous break-in, there have been other trespassers who have managed to enter the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
In 1994, US tourist James Miller was deported and fined £200 after he paraglided naked onto the roof of the palace.
A year later student John Gillard rammed his car into the iron gates outside Buckingham Palace at a speed of over 50mph ripping one of the gates off its hinges. He was unhurt from the incident.
In 2016, the palace was put on lockdown after convicted murderer Denis Hennessy scaled the exterior wall and spent ten minutes roaming around the royal gardens.
After he was apprehended he asked the armed officers, ‘Is Ma’am in?’
In 2018, Steven Lawlor was jailed for 28 days after he trespassed into the grounds of Buckingham Palace and damaged items before falling asleep.
He broke poster boards and glass cabinets fixed to metal railings so he could use them as bedding.
In 2016, the palace was put on lockdown after convicted murderer Denis Hennessy (pictured) scaled the exterior wall and spent ten minutes roaming around the royal gardens
The most recent break-in took place in 2021 when Daniel Brydges scaled two fences to gain access to the gardens at Buckingham Palace in December 2021.
Brydges, who was ‘fixated’ on accessing royal grounds, had travelled from his home in Portsmouth and attempted to get into the palace a month before on November 15 but was not charged.
The intruder, 33, admitted two counts of trespassing and damaging the barbed wire fence ‘belonging to the Queen’s Estate’.
District Judge Annabel Pilling sentenced him to 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and said he must not go within 100m of a royal residence.
