An intruder disguised as a priest conned his way inside Windsor Castle on April 26 and even spent the night, leaving just hours before Queen Elizabeth II made her return home.
“[He] said his name was Father Cruise and claimed to be a friend of the battalion’s padre, the Rev. Matt Coles. He was invited in and offered something to eat in the Officers’ Mess,” a source told Britain’s TalkTV.
The source explained that within a few hours, the man was “drinking with officers in the bar” and started telling stories about his life, including that he had served in Iraq.
“He was telling lots of tall stories, and the lads were enjoying his banter and having a few drinks,” the source said. “It was only later when he started talking about how he had worked as an ejector-seat test pilot and had some organs replaced that the chaps started to get suspicious.”
Security apparently did not conduct any further investigations into the man, and authorities were not alerted until the next morning, just three hours before the monarch returned to Windsor Castle from her 96th birthday celebration at her Sandringham estate.
“We received a report of an intruder at Victoria Barracks in Sheet Street, Windsor, at 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday [April 27],” a spokesperson for Thames Valley Police confirmed. “Officers attended and removed the intruder from the barracks. No further action was required.”
The palace is conducting an investigation into the incident, with guards being questioned and surveillance footage being analyzed.
“The Army takes this breach of security extremely seriously, and it will be thoroughly investigated as a matter of priority,” a Ministry of Defence spokesman told a publication. “This incident is now part of an ongoing investigation, and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
This isn’t the first intruder to make their way onto palace grounds in recent years.
A trespasser carrying a crossbow entered Windsor Castle on Christmas morning in 2021 but was swiftly arrested. He had allegedly used a rope ladder to scale a metal fence and enter the gardens where the Queen had been staying with her family at the time.