Michael Fagan (born 8 August 1948) is a British citizen who intruded into
Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom in
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
in 1982.
Early life
Michael Fagan was born in
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England.
Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington.
The well after which it was named was redisco ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, on 8 August 1948,
the son of Ivy and Michael Fagan, Sr.
His father was a steel erector and a "champion"
safe-breaker. He had two younger sisters, Marjorie and Elizabeth.
In 1955, he attended Compton Street School in Clerkenwell (later St Peter & St Paul RC Primary School). In 1966, he left home at 18 to escape his father, who, Fagan says, was violent. He started working as a
painter and decorator
A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...
. In 1972, he married Christine, with whom he had four children (she left him the year of the break-ins, but later came back).
At some point in the 1970s–1980s, Fagan was a member of a North London branch of the
Workers Revolutionary Party.
Break-ins
First entry
![Buckingham Palace 1980](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Buckingham_Palace_1980.jpg)
In early July 1982, Fagan intruded into
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
.
Fagan stated he shimmied up a drainpipe and startled a housemaid, who called security. He disappeared before guards arrived, who then disbelieved the housemaid's report. Fagan said he then entered the palace through an unlocked window on the roof and wandered around for the next half-hour while eating cheese and crackers. Two alarms were tripped, but the police turned them off believing they were faulty.
He viewed royal portraits and sat for some time on a throne. He also spoke of entering the post room. He drank a half bottle of white wine, became tired and left.
Second entry
At around 7:00 a.m. on 9 July 1982, Fagan scaled Buckingham Palace's perimeter wall, which was topped with revolving spikes and
barbed wire
A close-up view of a barbed wire
Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...
,
and climbed up a drainpipe.
An alarm sensor detected his movements, but police thought the alarm was faulty and silenced it.
Fagan wandered the corridors for several minutes before reaching the royal apartments. In an
anteroom
A vestibule (also anteroom, antechamber, or foyer) is a small room leading into a larger space such as a lobby, entrance hall or passage, for the purpose of waiting, withholding the larger space view, reducing heat loss, providing storage space ...
, Fagan broke a glass ashtray, cutting his hand. He entered the bedroom of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
at about 7:15 am carrying a fragment of glass.
The Queen woke when Fagan disturbed a curtain. Initial reports said he had sat on the edge of her bed, however Fagan said in a 2012 interview that the Queen left the room immediately to seek security.
The Queen phoned the palace switchboard twice for police, but none arrived, so she used her bedside alarm bell; she also beckoned a housemaid in the corridor, who was quickly dispatched to seek urgent help.
The duty
footman
A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage.
Etymology
Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman deli ...
,
Paul Whybrew, who had been walking the Queen's dogs, arrived, followed by two policemen on palace duty, who removed Fagan. The incident had happened as the armed police officer outside the royal bedroom came off duty before his replacement arrived.
A subsequent police report was critical of the competence of officers on duty, as well as a system of confused and divided command.
The Home Secretary who held sole responsibility for the police,
William Whitelaw
William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as ''de fac ...
, offered his resignation but it was refused by the prime minister,
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
.
Arrest
Since Fagan's actions were, at the time, a
civil
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
wrong rather than a
criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...
offence, he was not charged with
trespassing
Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land.
Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, ...
in the Queen's bedroom. He was charged with theft of the wine, but the charges were dropped when he was committed for
psychiatric evaluation
Psychological evaluation is a method to assess an individual's behavior, personality, cognitive abilities, and several other domains. A common reason for a psychological evaluation is to identify psychological factors that may be inhibiting a pers ...
. In late July, Fagan's mother said, "He thinks so much of the Queen. I can imagine him just wanting to simply talk and say hello and discuss his problems." He spent the next three months in a
psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
before being released on 21 January 1983.
It was not until 2007, when Buckingham Palace became a "designated site" for the purposes of section 128 of the
Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
The Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005 (c.15) (often abbreviated to SOCPA or SOCAP) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed primarily at creating the Serious Organised Crime Agency. It also significantly extended and si ...
, that trespass at the palace became a criminal offence.
Later life
Two years after entering Buckingham Palace, Fagan attacked a policeman at a café in
Fishguard
Fishguard ( cy, Abergwaun, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,419 in 2011; the community of Fishguard and Goodwick had a population of 5,407. Modern Fishguard consists of two pa ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, and was given a three-month suspended sentence. In 1983, Fagan recorded a
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of the
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...
song "
God Save the Queen
"God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...
" with
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
band the
Bollock Brothers
The Bollock Brothers are a British punk act formed in 1979 by the London promoter, DJ, and manager Jock McDonald. They are best known for their English language cover of Serge Gainsbourg's song "Harley David (Son of a Bitch)" (originally in ...
. In 1997, he was imprisoned for four years after he, his wife and their 20-year-old son Arran were charged with conspiring to supply
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
.
Fagan made an appearance in
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's ''
The Antics Roadshow'', an hour-long 2011 TV documentary directed by the artist
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams ...
and
Jaimie D'Cruz
Jaimie D'Cruz is a British documentary film producer and director.
D'Cruz started as a music journalist, and founded the hip hop magazine ''TOUCH'', which he edited between 1990 and 1998. In 1998, he began to make TV documentaries for the Briti ...
charting the history of people behaving oddly in public.
After the
death of the Queen on 8 September 2022, Fagan told reporters that he had lit a candle in her memory at a local church.
In fiction
The intrusion was adapted in 2012 for an episode of
Sky Arts
Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...
' ''
Playhouse Presents
''Playhouse Presents'' is an anthology series of self-contained TV plays, made by British broadcaster Sky Arts. The series started airing on 12 April 2012, on Sky Arts 1. Each episode is written by a different writer and stars a different cast. T ...
'' series entitled "
Walking the Dogs", a one-off British comedy drama featuring
Emma Thompson
Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...
as the Queen and
Eddie Marsan
Edward Maurice Charles Marsan (born 9 June 1968) is an English actor. He won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008).
He has feature ...
as the intruder. In 2020,
Tom Brooke
Thomas Brooke (born 1978) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Thick Kevin in '' The Boat That Rocked'' (2009), Bill Wiggins and Andy Apsted in the BBC One television series ''Sherlock'' and ''Bodyguard'' respectivel ...
played Fagan in the fifth episode of
season 4 Season 4 may refer to:
* "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock''
See also
*
* Season One (disambiguation) Season One may refer to:
Albums
* ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004
* ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughte ...
of ''
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
''. The intrusion also inspired
Trinidadian
Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...
calypso singer
Mighty Sparrow
Slinger Francisco ORTT CM OBE (born July 9, 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Trinidadian calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. Known as the "Calypso King of the World", he is one of the best-known and most successful calyp ...
to write his ironic song "Phillip My Dear", very loosely based on the event.
See also
*
The boy Jones
Edward "the boy" Jones (1824 – 26 December 1893) was a Briton who became notorious for breaking into Buckingham Palace multiple times between 1838 and 1841.
Biography Early life
Edward Jones was the son of a tailor in Westminster.
Arrests
In ...
, serial intruder to Buckingham Palace in the 1800s
*
The BFG
''The BFG'' (short for ''The Big Friendly Giant'') is a 1982 children's book written by British novelist Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It is an expansion of a short story from Dahl's 1975 book '' Danny, the Champion of the World ...
, 1983 children's novel in which the protagonist Sophie intrudes into the Queen's bedroom
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Michael
1948 births
1982 in London
1980s crimes in London
1980s in the City of Westminster
20th-century English criminals
Buckingham Palace
Criminals from London
English male criminals
July 1982 events in the United Kingdom
Living people
People from Clerkenwell
Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members