Queen: Experts discuss Michael Fagan security breach in 1982

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Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the day that then 31-year-old Michael Fagan scaled the fence of Buckingham Palace and made his way up a drainpipe and onto the roof. After removing his shoes and socks, which were reportedly returned to him years later, he entered the royal residence through an unlocked window. The painter and decorator spent some time wandering around the 775-room Palace, stumbling across the rooms of Prince Charles, Diana, Princess of Wales and ultimately entering the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth II herself. 

He claims to have found his way to the private apartments by “following the pictures.”

Fagan entered the monarch’s room at about 7.15 am, carrying one piece of the broken ashtray that he apparently used to cut through pigeon netting on the roof which he accidentally cut himself with in the process. 

He then went across the room and opened the curtains close to Her Majesty’s bed. 

Speaking to The Sun about the moment in 2020, he said: “They say she must have been frightened. I didn’t frighten her too much but I was quite shocked.

“She used a phone on the bedside table to call security but when nobody came she got out of bed. 

“Her nightie was one of those Liberty prints and it was down to her knees. 

“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.”

Footman Paul Wybrew was summoned, who then escorted Fagan across the corridor to the Queen’s pantry. 

In a statement at the time, My Wybrew said: “The man seemed very tense and I said: ‘Would you like a drink?’ 

“Immediately he became more affable and replied: ‘Yes please, I’ll have a scotch.’”

Fagan was arrested shortly thereafter.

He was not charged with the trespass at the Palace on July 9, 1982 because under British law it was considered a civil offence, not a crime, and would require the Queen to personally press charges. 

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However, months later he was brought to trial for burglary relating to the first time he broke in. 

Fagan had illegally entered Buckingham Palace several weeks earlier using a similar method, but that time he did not get caught. 

In September of 1982, he was charged with stealing a bottle of Prince Charles’ wine from among a collection of gifts sent by the public in anticipation of the birth of Prince William.

During the trial, Fagan admitted to drinking the wine while in Charles’ staff’s office, saying: “I was waiting to be captured. I drank it because I was waiting for someone to come.”

According to The Guardian, after consuming about half of the bottle, he told the court that he got tired of waiting and decided to leave. 

After deliberating for just 14 minutes, the jury acquitted Fagan.

In the years that followed, Fagan gave various accounts of his reasons for breaking into the Palace.

According to The Guardian, he initially told the police that he broke in to see the Queen because he was in love with her, but on other occasions, he has suggested that he thought the Queen might be able to help him in some way, per The Sun, or, as he told the Independent, the decision was fueled by a prolonged reaction to taking hallucinogenic mushrooms several months before.

Fagan later appeared in court again, having previously revealed his role in an unrelated car theft, for which he was charged and ultimately convicted in October 1982. 

He was committed to a mental hospital at sentencing, but by the following January, a medical tribunal at the hospital determined that he no longer needed to be detained.

In 1983, following his release, he put out a cover of “God Save the Queen” with the punk band The Bollocks Brothers.

Fagan has been in and out of the spotlight with occasional interviews, as well as other run-ins with the law, including an arrest for indecent exposure which he described to the Independent as a “misunderstanding.”

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