Buckingham Palace intruder claims he broke into the Queen’s bedroom to ask for her help
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Buckingham Palace’s famed intruder Michael Fagan has claimed he broke into the Queen’s bedroom because he thought she could help after his wife ran away and left him to bring up their four children.
The 70-year-old famously broke into Buckingham Palace and crept into the Queen’s bedroom 38 years ago.
Mr Fagan, who previously said he snuck in to admire the art, is lucky to be alive after catching coronavirus and then having a heart attack in March.
In July 1982, he scaled the palace’s 14ft parameter wall for the second time in two months, shinned up a drain pipe and climbed through an unlocked window, wandering in on the snoozing monarch.
He told The Sun: ‘I was fixated on the Queen. I knew she liked helping people and thought she might help me. I wanted to speak to her but I never planned to end up in her bedroom.’
Intruder Michael Fagan, 69, who famously broke into Buckingham Palace and crept into the Queen’s bedroom 38 years ago says he was hoping the Queen would help him
In July 1982, Mr Fagan scaled the Buckingham Palace’s 14ft parameter wall for the second time in two months, shinned up a drain pipe and climbed through an unlocked window, wandering in on the snoozing monarch
In an episode of The Crown, to be shown in November, Olivia Colman plays the Queen and actor Tom Brooke appears as the 31-year-old intruder.
Mr Fagan triggered an alarm in the palace police control room but officers turned it off twice because they thought the system was faulty.
It was one of the worst royal security blunders in modern history, which led the then-home secretary Willie Whitelaw to offer the Queen his resignation, she didn’t accept.
At 6.45am on Friday July 9, 1982, Mr Fagan scaled the 10ft railings near the Ambassador’s Gate — now the entrance used by visitors to Buckingham Palace.
He climbed a drainpipe, took his sandals off while on a flat roof and entered through a window.
When inside he wiped pigeon repellent from his hands onto a curtain and smashed a glass ashtray. He said he wanted to use it to cut pigeon netting on his way out, but ended up cutting himself.
On the anniversary of the break-in last month, he said: ‘Truthfully I don’t even think about it mate, it was literally one day in my life. I’m glad the Queen is still alive.
Mr Fagan says he’d sooner plan for his 70th birthday next month, where he intends to back a few Jaeger Bombs, than do anything special for the anniversary of the day he met the Queen
‘I have got a lot of respect for the Queen as a human being, she does a good job.
‘I haven’t got a thought for any of the others to be honest, they’re just another part of the human race. I’m not a great royalist to be honest.’
Mr Fagan has previously spoken about peeling back the curtains of Elizabeth’s four poster bed, at which point she scarpered to get help.
He was arrested but wasn’t charged with trespassing because it was a civil offence and would have compromised the Queen’s role as head of state if she had to appear in court to give evidence.
Mr Fagan would like to see Scarface star Al Pacino play him, though, and says Scent of a Woman (pictured) is his favourite movie
He was charged with burglary after quaffing a bottle of expensive red wine in the palace but was acquitted after a trial at the Old Bailey in September 1982.
Tom Brooke recently played Mr Fagan in series four of hit Netflix show The Crown, but the man himself admitted he’s never watched any of his on-screen depictions.
Mr Fagan would like to see Scarface star Al Pacino play him, though, and says Scent of a Woman is his favourite movie.
In an extraordinary intervention, he also urged Prince Andrew to cooperate with US authorities investigating disgraced peado Jeffrey Epstein and his socialite girlfriend Ghsiliane Maxwell.
Mr Fagan said: ‘He is putting the Queen and country into disrepute, hiding behind the flag.
‘He should go to America – you have got to talk for yourself.
‘Even Trump will have to do that one day, face up to what he does.’
Andrew has ‘categorically’ denied having sexual relations with Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre and says he’s offered to cooperate with US investiagtors.
Andrew’s old friend Maxwell was arrested by the FBI last week and charged in connection to allegedly helping Epstein recruit, groom and abuse young girls.
Tom Brooke recently played Mr Fagan in series four of hit Netflix show The Crown, but the man himself admitted he’s never watched any of his on-screen depictions
Mr Fagan also urged Prince Andrew to cooperate with US authorities investigating disgraced peado Jeffrey Epstein and his socialite girlfriend Ghsiliane Maxwell.Pictured: Mr Fagan pictured in April 2006
Mr Fagan also hopes he didn’t inspire other would-be intruders who have targeted royal palace’s over the years – but says he doesn’t regret breaking in himself.
‘It was something different,’ he said, ‘an adventure.
‘I was more adventurous in my youth – stay out of trouble!’
After catching Covid-19 and having a heart attack, Mr Fagan had a heart stent put in and stayed at the Whittington Hospital in north London for three weeks.
He added: ‘It was scary times -the pain of the heart attack was like nothing, I’m so lucky.’
A HISTORY OF BREACHES AT BRITAIN’S MOST ICONIC BUILDING: HOW THE PALACE BECAME A MAGNET FOR PROTESTERS AND ACTIVISTS
1982 – Michael Fagan evaded guards to get inside the Queen’s private chambers while she was still in bed in 1982. The unemployed father of four, 31, spent around 10 minutes talking to the Queen after he climbed over the palace walls and up a drainpipe. The Queen managed to raise the alarm when Fagan asked for a cigarette, allowing her to call for a footman who held him until police arrived.
In 1982, Michael Fagan got into the Palace and woke the Queen in her bedroom
July 1992 – Kevin McMahon, 25, was arrested inside the grounds for the second time in a week. During his first sortie, he forced a helicopter carrying the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to divert as he roamed the grounds.
1994 – A naked paraglider landed on the roof of Buckingham Palace. American James Miller was fined £200 and deported.
1995 – Student John Gillard rammed the Palace gates in his car at 50mph, tearing one off its hinges.
November 2003 – Daily Mirror journalist Ryan Parry sparked a major alert when he managed to become a footman using false references and infiltrated the workings of the Queen’s London home in November 2003.
Parry claimed he was given the chance to get close enough to the Queen to have poisoned her and said no rigorous checks were made into his background. He took pictures of the bed in which US president George Bush and his wife Laura were to sleep during a subsequent state visit.
2012 – Four climate change activists were arrested in 2012 for scaling the Palace gates and chaining themselves to the railings. Two of them held a banner carrying a quote from the Prince of Wales reading: ‘The doomsday clock of climate change is ticking ever faster towards midnight. We are simply not reacting quickly enough.’
September 2013 – A man scaled a fence at the Palace and was found in a room that had been open to the public during the day. Another man was arrested outside the Palace. Less than 48 hours after the incident, two police officers confronted the Duke of York in the Palace gardens demanding to know who he was.
A member of the ‘Fathers 4 Justice’ group stood on the balcony dressed as Batman in 2004
2013 – A man with a 6in kitchen knife was rugby-tackled to the ground by police outside the Palace after he jumped over a vehicle barrier in an attempt to see the Queen. David Belmar admitted trespass and possession of a bladed article. The court heard that he wanted to see the Queen because he was unhappy with his benefits.
November 2015 – Activists climbed on the roof of Buckingham Palace in a protest over fathers’ rights in November last year. Martin Matthews, 48, and Bobby Smith, 33, used a ladder to breach security after another campaigner caused distraction outside the Palace.
Denis Hennessy, 41, wandered through the royal gardens for up to ten minutes in May 2016, before asking armed officers, ‘Is Ma’am in?’
2016 – A musical group claimed to have ‘gatecrashed’ Buckingham Palace, fooling guests at a private art talk last month. In a video uploaded online, Cat’s Eyes said they had previously attempted to get into the Palace to perform a song from their new album. The group said they pretended to be a Renaissance ensemble performing music from that era, when really they gave a live rendition of their own song, We’ll be Waiting.
In a separate incident in May of the same year Denis Hennessy, 41, wandered through the royal gardens for up to ten minutes, before asking armed officers, ‘Is Ma’am in?’
The unemployed Irishman was oblivious to the security alert he had caused as the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of York were rushed to safety.
After the drunken trespasser was confronted just 50 yards from the palace, investigators were shocked to discover his past conviction – which saw him jailed for life at the age of 18.
He had bludgeoned homeless man Kevin Cusack to death with a 10in iron bar outside a north London fish and chip shop, in an attack compared to scenes from the ultra-violent film A Clockwork Orange.
One detective said the case was the worst he had seen in his 27-year career. Hennessy was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey.
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