On Sunday, June 1, at around 1 p.m., the apparent calm of Windsor was suddenly disturbed by an incident the Crown would have preferred to avoid. A man in his thirties, clearly under the influence of class A drugs (which include heroin, morphine, methadone, cocaine, opium, ecstasy and hallucinogens such as LSD), managed to cross the protected boundaries of the royal estate. Fortunately, it did not reach the central, ultra-secure part of the castle.
The man was intercepted near Town Gate (a peripheral access point) by forces from the Royal and Specialist Protection Command, the Royal Family’s bodyguard service in charge of security at royal sites. The man was quickly neutralized and handed over to Thames Valley Police. He was arrested for trespassing on a protected site and possession of drugs, before being released on bail pending further investigation. According to initial investigations, he did not appear to have any malicious intent.
The other dimension of this case concerns the immediate proximity of the intrusion to Adelaide Cottage. Located southeast of Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II gifted this home to Prince William and Kate Middleton after promising it to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in 2018. It is the current residence of the couple of Wales and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Although their presence at the scene has not been confirmed, their schedule did not indicate any official travel that day. In other words, the family could very well have been just a stone’s throw away from the intruder.
This is not the first time that the symbol of the British monarchy has been breached. Last October, masked burglars broke into a farm on the estate, making off with farming equipment. In 2021, a man armed with a crossbow was arrested in the castle grounds, after posting a video announcing his intention to assassinate the Queen. In the same year, two individuals used a ladder to climb over fences and onto private property. While this Sunday’s man left behind only police reports and a good dose of tension, he is a reminder that Windsor Castle, despite its medieval aura and symbolic moat, has long since been impregnable.
Originally published in Vanity Fair France
