They were the biggest security breaches in real history.
In July 1982, schizophrenic Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace twice within the space of a few days.
On the first occasion, he made a foray into the throne room and drank from a bottle of wine that was among the gifts sent to Prince Charles and Princess Diana after the birth of Prince William.
After having disappeared undetected because the alarms he activated were turned off by the unfortunate police, it was on July 9, almost 42 years ago, when he returned.
After entering the Queen’s bedroom at around 7.15am, he spoke to Her Majesty for several minutes, reportedly while sitting on her bed.
She was rescued by the arrival of her devoted lackey Paul Whybrew.
Mr Whybrew, who served the Queen until her death in 2022, gave Fagan a glass of whisky to calm him down before police arrived.
Michael Fagan infamously broke into the Queen’s bedroom in July 1982 and woke her, before allegedly speaking to her for ten minutes.
On 9 July 1982, Fagan broke into the Palace early in the morning and entered the Queen’s bedroom.
Fagan first entered the Palace by climbing up a drainpipe and entering through an unlocked window in the roof.
He spent half an hour wandering around while eating cheese and crackers.
After looking at royal portraits, entering the throne room and drinking from the bottle of wine sent to Charles and Diana, he grew tired and left without being caught.
A few nights later, he returned. He managed to get back in by climbing through a drain.
Fagan initially entered an anteroom, where he cut his hand after breaking a glass ashtray.
Then, carrying a piece from the ashtray, he entered the Queen’s bedroom.
The Queen quickly pressed the alarm bell, but the policeman on duty outside her room had finished his shift.
Another alarm that Fagan had activated before entering the Queen’s bedroom was deactivated by police, who again thought it was faulty.
Mr Whybrew, then just 20, was outside walking the dogs and his maid was cleaning in another room, so no one came.
The Queen was rescued from her predicament with Fagan by the arrival of her faithful lackey Paul Whybrew. He became famous for his performance alongside the Queen and Daniel Craig in the sketch filmed for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.
Fagan (pictured above, at the time of the robbery and on the right, in 2006) was sent for psychiatric treatment at a secure psychiatric hospital later in 1982.
Michael Fagan was played by Tom Brooke in the fourth season of the Netflix series The Crown
Emma Thompson (above) played the Queen in the 2012 TV drama ‘Walking the Dogs’
A sketch of Fagan speaking to the Queen in her bedroom on the morning of 9 July 1982.
The Queen is said to have continued to talk to Fagan to keep him calm, while she waited for someone to come to his aid.
When a maid returned, the couple led him to a pantry.
Mr Whybrew returned from walking the dogs and was confronted by the situation. Fagan allegedly kept telling him: “I want to speak to the Queen, my Queen.”
The footman said, “Okay, but let her get dressed first.”
Fagan then allegedly continued to try to walk past the footman, but Mr Whybrew stood in his way.
She then offered him a drink to calm him down. Mr Whybrew said in his police statement at the time: “The man still looked very tense and I said to him, ‘Would you like a drink?'”
‘He immediately became more affable and replied: “Yes, please. I’ll have a whiskey.”
After giving him a glass of whiskey, a police officer arrived and arrested Fagan.
When asked his name, he told officers: “Rudolph Hess from Spandau.”
The then Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw, tendered his resignation following the massive security breach, but Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to accept it.
Fagan was not charged with invading the Queen’s bedroom because, at the time, such an action was a civil offence and not a criminal offence.
However, he was charged with stealing wine during his first visit, but was found not guilty at a trial at the Old Bailey.
The jury decided that he had not entered the palace with any dishonest intention. He had insisted that he had drunk the wine because he was thirsty.
Fagan also issued a ‘sincere apology’ to the Queen.
He said through his lawyer: ‘Along with everyone else in the world, I love Her Majesty The Queen, I have the deepest respect, the deepest respect for her.
“I wouldn’t do anything to embarrass her. I know she likes helping people and I thought she might like to help me.
‘Your Majesty, please excuse my intrusion into your privacy. I didn’t know it would become a global issue.
‘All I wanted to do was discuss my personal problems, but the way I did it embarrassed His Majesty’s family.
‘You were wonderfully understanding with me and I know you will understand that this apology is written with all sincerity.’
Mr Whybrew gained public profile when he appeared alongside his boss and Daniel Craig in a film for a sketch shown at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012.
Fagan was sent for psychiatric treatment at a high-security psychiatric hospital later in 1982 after pleading guilty in court to taking a car without the owner’s consent.
Daily Mail coverage of Fagan’s robbery and the security failures that allowed it to happen
He was released in January 1983. In 1984 he attacked a policeman in a café in Fishguard, Wales, and was given a three-month suspended prison sentence.
In 1987, Fagan was convicted of indecent exposure after a female motorist spotted him running without his trousers on a vacant lot in Chingford, Essex.
In 1997, Fagan, his wife and son Arran were charged with conspiring to supply heroin. He was jailed for four years.
He claimed in a 2012 interview that the Queen wore a nightgown with “Liberty prints” that reached “to her knees”.
Talking with him IndependentHe also refuted the claim that the Queen kept him talking to keep him calm.
—No! She ran past me and out of the room, her bare feet running across the floor, she said.
He added that Her Majesty’s accent was “like the finest glass you can imagine breaking” when she allegedly said: “What are you doing here?”
Fagan (pictured in 1987) has a string of convictions to his name. He is now 75.
Fagan’s robbery was shown in the fourth season of The Crown. The criminal was portrayed by Tom Brooke speaking to the Queen (Olivia Coleman) while sitting on her bed.
The saga was also depicted in the 2012 drama Walking the Dogs, where Eddie Marsan played Fagan and the Queen was played by Emma Thompson.
Fagan criticised Brooke’s portrayal, saying the star looked “too ugly” and claiming she had “no charisma”.
Following the Queen’s death in September 2022, Fagan said he was “saddened to see her go”.
He said: ‘I have no plans to go to the funeral but I have been to church to light a candle for her and I hope it is all behind us.
“I think Charles will do a good job and take care of the planet. He will be very good at it.”
‘There is also too much division between rich and poor in society and I think Charles will help heal that.’
