On . I didnt frighten her too much but I was quite shocked," he told of the moment he pulled back the bed curtains to discover Queen Elizabeth asleep in her bed. On June 7, 1982, Fagan, whose wife had just left him, climbed through a maid's bedroom window into Buckingham Palace with one mission in mind: to use the restroom. The Crown also shows Mr Fagan breaking a valuable vase during his escapades, something which he says was made up. Likewise, in a plan for his eventual exit, Fagan told The Sun that he broke one of the palace ashtrays to get a piece of glass to use to cut through pigeon netting on the roof, accidentally cutting himself in the process. I didnt speak to the Queen. I hope she beats Victoria. Buckingham Palace is no stranger to visitors, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. According to the police, shortly before 7 a.m. on the morning of July 9, 1982, Fagan scaled his way into royal history as, after a night of drinking, he climbed over the fence of Buckingham Palace and made his way up a drainpipe and onto the roof. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Regardless of his motivation, Fagan may have taken his courage that night from a previous success; after all, July 9, 1982 wasn't the first time he illegally entered Buckingham Palace. before getting out the room. In 1972, he married his wife Christine, with whom he had four children. Among the men and women standing in line in the dole queue was Fagan, a painter and decorator who was destined to cause one of the worst royal security breaches in modern memory, when he broke into Buckingham Palace and entered the Queen's bedroom, carrying a piece of broken glass. In 1997, Fagan, his wife, and their 20-year-old son were charged with conspiring to sell heroin. He was released three months later, according to the BBC. "She used a phone on the bedside table to call security but when nobody came she got out of bed." He scaled the palace's 14-foot-high (4.3m) perimeter wall that was topped with revolving spikes and barbed wire. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Finally, the authorities arrived and removed Fagan from the premises. Fagan didn't meet the Queen until the second break-in at Buckingham Palace. According to a Scotland Yard investigation, Fagan says he found a glass ashtray in an anteroom and broke it, intending to slit his wrists in front of the Queen. After the two palace break-ins, Michael Fagan was only charged with the theft of wine. The intruder was 32-year-old Michael Fagan, an unemployed tradesman who had a bone to pick with Her Majesty. Michael Melvin Fagan joined his wife on the morning of Dec. 16, 2021, surrounded by family, and love in the same home she passed 28 years ago. 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. I walked straight in, Fagan later said of the incident. Fagan is pleased with the performance of Tom Brooke, but jokes, Al Pacino would have been better. Yet all these years later, Fagan has no regrets. So I had to pee on the corgi food. "I hadn't thought about going in there until that last second when it came into my head to do it, so I was shocked.". He was committed to a mental hospital at sentencing, but by the following January a medical tribunal at the hospital determined that he no longer needed to be detained, according to the New York Times. Pee on the carpet? If she does, I'll send her a hundredth-birthday telegram.". Looming over her bed was a mysterious intruder, "unkempt, barefooted, and slightly tipsy," who had wrenched back the. "It was harder to get out than get in. In search of a bathroom, Fagan entered the palace by shimmying up a drainpipe and through the window of a shocked maid, who headed straight to security. If she does, I'll send her a hundredth-birthday telegram," he told The Independent. I was surprised I wasn't captured straight away," he told the court at a related hearing for burglary in 1982. The Queen thought Buckingham Palace prowler Michael Fagan was a 'drunk member of staff', her former protection officer has revealed. I bet the rest of it is a fiction as well. [3], In early July 1982, Fagan intruded into Buckingham Palace. All rights reserved. During the first incident, Fagan was spotted by a maid called Sarah Carter, who raised the alarm, but he still managed to evade capture. His wife had just left him, and suffering mental health . He was born January 12, 1939 in Norwalk, son of the late Kenneth Fagan and Gretchen (Coenen) Fagan. I just sat and waited for someone to come by.'. They had to take a broad creative license to make their point. Michael Fagan does claim to have broken into Buckingham Palace twice, as shown on The Crown. Paul Michael Fagan Obituary - Tribute Archive Fagan does exactly that, storming the palace to beg Her Majesty to save Britain from Thatcher. [1] At some point in the 1970s1980s, Fagan was a member of a North London branch of the Workers Revolutionary Party. When Fagan visits his local Member of Parliament to complain about Thatchers policies, the MP jokingly encourages him to voice his complaints to the Queen. Just two weeks later Michael. However, there are some biographical details omitted. On July 9, 1982, at around 7:15 AM, Queen Elizabeth II .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}awoke with a start. While speaking to The Independent, Fagan said that he couldn't find a bathroom, so he "peed on the corgi food." Is his rendition a bit too on-the-nose? The Buckingham Palace dust-up turned Fagan into an unlikely celebrity, rendering him a degree of infamy that he has seemingly relished. Fagan wasn't charged with the trespass at Buckingham Palace on July 9, 1982 because under British law it was considered a civil offense, not a crime, and would require the Queen to personally press charges. Advertisement. Evidently assuming the alerts were a glitch, the police on watch turned the alarms back off. The Crown Creator on Diana & Meghan's Royal Exits, Why Princess Anne Might Be the Coolest Royal, You Can Now Stay at the Castle from The Crown, Your Complete Guide to the Bridgerton Family, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, "I was scareder than I'd ever been in my life," Fagan told. That's another matter altogether. He breaks into the queens bedroom because he wants her to know how people like him were left behind by the conservative, deregulated state. The Crown imagines what they might have said to one another. Later,Prince Philip and the Queen, who are staying at Windsor, are told about the intruder at the palace. before going to seek help. Did Michael Fagan really sit on the Queen's bed? Technically, this was the second time Fagan successfully scaled the fortified wallsbut the first time he managed to accomplish his goal of speaking to the Queen.
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