The late Queen had many memorable moments during her seven decade reign, from meeting world leaders to travelling the globe.
But one infamous experience 41 years ago today was never to be repeated – and thankfully so. On July 9, 1982, Queen Elizabeth woke to find intruder Michael Fagan inside her Buckingham Palace bedroom.
Unbelievably, it was the second time Fagan had managed to evade security and freely wander around the palace.
The story of Michael Fagan breaking into Buckingham Palace and waking the Queen up is very well-known and was even dramatised in Netflix's The Crown.
The intruder first managed to evade detection and enter the building in early June 1982. Fagan later revealed that he climbed up a drainpipe and startled a housemaid, who called the guards. It is said that when the security arrived they refused to believe the housemaid's story.
Fagan went on to claim that he then entered the palace through an unlocked window on the roof and walked the corridors for the next half an hour eating cheddar cheese and crackers. He viewed the royal portraits in the gallery and sat on a throne.
Fagan revealed that he drank a half bottle of white wine before getting tired and sneaking back out. Perhaps most shockingly of all, the intruder managed to trip two security alarms, but the duty policemen turned them off as they believed they were faulty.
The thrill of freely wandering the palace undetected wasn't enough for Fagan as he decided to return and try his luck again on July 9. This time he arrived at approximately 7am and scaled the 14ft perimeter wall which was topped with barbed wire and climbed the drainpipe, just as he had done a few weeks before.
Fagan wandered the corridors and again managed to trip security wires which were silenced by the policemen on duty. After walking for a few minutes, he reached the royal apartments.
Before entering the Queen's bedroom, he had broken a glass ashtray and cut his hand. Fagan was still bleeding and carrying a fragment of the glass when he entered Her Majesty's room.
Reports vary as to exactly what happened when the intruder met The Queen as Fagan has changed details of his story over the years. It is said that he woke the monarch when he disturbed a curtain in her room and proceeded to sit on the end of her bed.
In a 2012 interview, Fagan changed course and said that the Queen had immediately left the room to find security after she had called the palace switchboard twice and no-one had arrived.
When help finally arrived, Fagan was tackled out of the room by Her Majesty's duty footman, Paul Whybrew, who had been out walking the corgis. It is said that the intruder was offered a glass of whisky to calm down.
Shockingly, Fagan never faced any real punishment for breaking into the palace as his actions were classed as a civil wrong rather than a criminal offence back in 1982.
He was not charged with trespassing in the Queen's bedroom but was charged with theft of the bottle of wine that he had drunk during his first visit. The charges were later dropped when he was committed for psychiatric evaluation.
Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond vividly remembered the moment the news of Fagan's break-in was announced. Speaking exclusively to OK!, she recalled: "I remember very clearly waking up to hear that someone had broken into Buckingham Palace, which wasn’t unprecedented, but to learn that this man had actually got into the Queen’s bedroom and sat on her bed was mind-boggling!
"Where was the security? How could this happen? And, what an earth did the Queen think, and say? It was a huge story, and everyone was talking about it. The image of this man, with a bleeding hand, sitting on the Queen’s bed was just extraordinary.
"We have since learned that the Queen was extremely cool and collected. Fagan‘s mother said that her son thought a great deal of the Queen and just wanted to talk and say hello, and discuss his problems.
"He spent the next three months in a psychiatric hospital. After the Queen died, Fagan told reporters that he had lit a candle in her memory in a local church."
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