Queen Elizabeth.Photo: Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images
As Queen Elizabeth’s royal staff readied Buckingham Palace for her Platinum Jubilee celebration this weekend, they dealt with an intruder.
Connor Attridge, 28, was arrested on Sunday night for trespassing on the grounds of the royal residence in London, entering through the vehicle gate of the Royal Mews when it was opened for an authorized vehicle, according toPA.
However, the 96-year-old monarch was not in residence at Buckingham Palace at the time. She has been staying at Windsor Castle primarily since 2020, but shetraveled to her Balmoral estate in Scotlandfor a “short break” over the weekend.
On Tuesday, the Queen traveled back to Windsor ahead of this weekend’s festivities, which kicks off on Thursday with Trooping the Colour at Buckingham Palace.
Buckingham Palace.Kate Green/Anadolu Agency via Getty
Attridge’s lawyer, Daniel Mullin, said his client suffers from mental health issues and had “no motive or desire to go further than he did.”
“This was at worst reckless and at best bordering on an accidental offense,” Mullin told Westminster Magistrates' Court, PA reports.
Earlier this month, anintruder pretending to be a priestspent a night in the barracks housing the soldiers who protectQueen Elizabethin Windsor.
It wasn’t until the following morning that police were notified and the man was removed.
A spokesperson for the British Army told PEOPLE: “The Army takes this breach of security extremely seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated as a matter of priority. This incident is now part of an ongoing investigation and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
Queen Elizabeth.PAUL GROVER/POOL/AFP/Getty
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But perhaps the most famous intruder — so much so that thestoryline was featuredin season 4 of Netflix’sThe Crown —was Michael Fagan, who enteredQueen Elizabeth’s Buckingham Palace bedroom in 1982.
In a 2012 interview withThe Independent on Sunday, Fagan recalled being in the monarch’s bedroom. “I was scareder than I’d ever been in my life,” he said. “Then she speaks and it’s like the finest glass you can imagine breaking: ‘Wawrt are you doing here?!’ "
While it was reported that the two had a long conversation, Fagan said: “Nah! She went past me and ran out of the room; her little bare feet running across the floor.”
source: people.com
