wfgodot
Former Member
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2009
- Messages
- 30,166
- Reaction score
- 731
09 July 2012 will mark the 30th anniversary of Michael Fagan's ridiculously, wonderfully bold break-in at Buckingham Palace and his late-night encounter with HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
Michael Fagan: 'Her nightie was one of those Liberty prints, down to her knees' (Independent on Sunday)
What Lilibet saw: Michael Fagan, c. 1982
Michael Fagan: 'Her nightie was one of those Liberty prints, down to her knees' (Independent on Sunday)
What exactly took place that night in the royal bedchamber?Michael Fagan makes an unlikely criminal mastermind. The architect of the biggest royal security breach of the 20th century sitting in a Wetherspoon's pub, sporting socks, sandals, an oversized parka and a winter hat with ear flaps is more of a contender for the title of Britain's Most Embarrassing Grandpa. Nevertheless, in 1982 a 32-year-old Fagan scaled the barbed-wire-topped, 14ft wall of Buckingham Palace and shinned up a drainpipe before wandering into the Queen's bedroom and a place in history.
---
What constituted initial Palace attempts to counter this major security breach?"I was scareder than I'd ever been in my life," he says, widening his eyes theatrically as he recalls the moment he pulled back the curtains to see the Queen staring up at him. "Then she speaks and it's like the finest glass you can imagine breaking: 'Wawrt are you doing here?!'"
---
Reports at the time suggested the Queen had a long conversation with Fagan to stall him while security was summoned. Fagan tells it differently: "Nah! She went past me and ran out of the room; her little bare feet running across the floor."
---
How does Fagan account for his - not one, but two - Buckingham Palace break-ins?When, finally, the Queen managed to summon help, it was an unarmed footman who stood watch until the police came. Fagan recalls, with increasing licence: "The footman came and said, 'Cor, f*cking hell mate, you look like you need a drink'. His name was [Paul] Whybrew, which is a funny name for someone offering you a drink, innit? He took me to the Queen's pantry, across the landing, where I presume she cooks her baked beans and toast and whatever and takes a bottle of Famous Grouse from the shelf and pours me a glass of whisky."
---
The rest of this highly readable, funny, sad article, with details about the first break-in also, at link aboveEven all these years later, he cannot explain his motivation. "I don't know why I did it, something just got into my head," he says, breaking into a Pink Floyd song: "There's someone in my head and it's not me..." Describing his second visit, he adds: "I went back because I thought 'that's naughty, that's naughty that I can walk round there'." He suggests the whole incident stemmed from putting too many magic mushrooms in his soup five months earlier. "I forgot you're only supposed to take a little handful. Two years later I was still coming down. I was high on mushrooms for a long, long time."
---
What Lilibet saw: Michael Fagan, c. 1982