THE PALACE INTRUDER - MICHAEL FAGAN

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Michael Fagan the palace intruder, a curious looking man out his head on magic mushrooms broke into the palace one night. He scaled the fence then shimmied up a drainpipe to the ambasadors room, opened a window - all without triggering the alarm system. He "followed the paintings" and was seen walking in his socks by a chamber maid who rushed to tell her colleagues who told her not to worry, it was probably a ghost they said due to the fact they had just finished doing a seance.



I quote some of the Scotland yard police report "Fagan entered Her Majesty's bedroom at about 7:15 A.M. carrying one piece of the broken ashtray, with which he has said that he intended to slash his wrists in the presence of Her Majesty. He claimed that he had not entered the palace with this intention but that it formed in his mind for the first time when he saw the ashtray. He went across the room and opened curtains close to Her Majesty's bed. Her Majesty pressed the night alarm bell.

Fagan talked to her Majesty for ten minutes "about family and other matters", she gave him a cigarette and a glass of whiskey. Fagan said her eyes were were dark. [link to i2-prod.mirror.co.uk (secure)] [link to i.dailymail.co.uk (secure)]

In accordance with his instructions, the police sergeant who is in the corridor outside at night had gone off duty at about 6 A.M., when members of the domestic staff had come on duty. The footman, in accordance with the normal day routine, was outside exercising the dogs, and the maid was cleaning in another room with the door closed so that the noise of her work would not disturb Her Majesty. So the night alarm bell, which is connected to the corridor outside the Queen's room and to the pantry, did not attract anyone's attention.

Her Majesty used her bedside telephone to instruct the palace telephonist to send police to her bedroom. The telephonist then telephoned the police lodge, and this call was received there at about 7:18 A.M. Her Majesty made another telephone call about six minutes later since a police officer had still not arrived. Before police officers arrived, Her Majesty attracted the attention of the maid, and together they ushered Fagan into a nearby pantry on the pretext of supplying him with a cigarette. They were joined there by the footman, who had returned from exercising the dogs. While Her Majesty kept the dogs away as the man was getting agitated, the footman helped to keep Fagan in the pantry by supplying him with cigarettes until first one and then another police officer arrived and removed him.

The piece of glass was subsequently found on Her Majesty's bed. There was a bloodstain on the bedclothes which came from a superficial cut on Fagan's right thumb caused by the broken glass".

Sounds like a nightmare.

On the day Fagan visited the Queen she was exactly 11,111 days monarch. (6 February 1951 to 9 July 1982). [link to www.timeanddate.com (secure)]

Here is a recent newspaper article on the Fagan incident [link to www.dailymail.co.uk (secure)] Police report at the time [link to www.upi.com (secure)]