Royal Family Home Scandals: Fires, Break-Ins and Security Breaches

The Royal Family have world-class safety at their disposal all the time however they’ve nonetheless persevered scary break-ins and uncontrollable fires over time.

One infamous incident came about in 1982 when an interloper bypassed Buckingham Castle’s barbed twine fences and controlled to get all of the approach into the overdue Queen Elizabeth II’s bed room earlier than he used to be apprehended.

The intruder couldn’t in fact be charged with trespassing because of a quirk of British regulation on the time, so he agreed to go through psychiatric remedy to keep away from prosecution for stealing a bottle of wine from the palace.

More lately, there were 3 separate break-in makes an attempt at Windsor Castle, together with an incident on Christmas Day 2021 the place a person armed with a crossbow unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.

Keep scrolling for a glance again at some scary incidents that came about at royal apartments:

Windsor Castle Break-In

Thames Valley Police showed that an interloper used to be in custody after making an attempt to damage into the royal circle of relatives’s nation property. Prince William and Kate Middleton live to tell the tale the grounds of Windsor Castle at Adelaide Cottage with their kids Prince George, born 2013, Princess Charlotte, born 2015, and Prince Louis, born 2018.

A police spokesperson informed People, “At just after 1 p.m. on Sunday a man entered restricted grounds at Windsor Castle. He was quickly challenged by Met police officers and arrested. He did not enter the inner grounds of Windsor Castle.”

The Metropolitan Police showed that the suspect used to be arrested on “suspicion of trespass on a protected site and possession of Class A drugs,” earlier than being launched on bail.

“Officers in the grounds spotted the man just after 13:00 hrs on Sunday, 1 June and quickly arrested him. He was then passed into the custody of Thames Valley Police,” the Metropolitan Police commentary added.

Princess Diana Home Targeted in Arson

The overdue Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer wrote by means of X in May 2025 that he used to be “stunned” that their early life house – referred to as Althorp House – used to be focused in a suspected arson.

“Stunned to learn that one of ⁦@AlthorpHouse ⁩’s farmhouses – fortunately, unoccupied at the time – was apparently burnt down by vandals last night. With thanks to ⁦ @northantsfire ⁩ for doing their very best. So very sad that anyone would think this a fun thing to do,” he wrote.

A Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson showed to BBC News that first responders arrived to discover a disused farmhouse “fully on fire.” Four fireplace crews have been dispatched to subdue the blaze at Althorp House.

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An investigation into the fireplace used to be ongoing in June 2025. Police instructed the fireplace used to be brought about intentionally however the precise reason is “yet to be determined.”

A prior fireplace destroyed an commercial unit at Althorp House in September 2024. Althorp House hosted an exhibition about Princess Diana’s early lifestyles between 1998 and 2013.

Masked Break-In Attempt

In November 2024, Sky News reported that masked thieves stole two farm cars after breaking into Windsor Castle whilst Prince William and his circle of relatives slept close by in Adelaide Cottage.

Two masked males reportedly scaled the 6-foot fence to illegally acquire access to the valuables after which commandeered a truck to burst via a safety gate. The pair fled the scene a short while later after stealing a pink quad motorbike and an Isuzu pick-up truck.

“At around 11:45 p.m. on Sunday 13 October, we received a report of burglary at a property on Crown Estate land near to the A308 in Windsor,” Thames Valley Police mentioned in a commentary on the time. “Offenders entered a farm construction and made off with a black Isuzu pick-up and a pink quad motorbike. They then made off in opposition to the Old Windsor/Datchet space.

“No arrests have been made at this stage and an investigation is ongoing.”

No additional updates had been introduced publicly.

Santa Barbara Security Breach

The New York Post reported in July 2022 that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had six safety signals at their Montecito, California mansion inside of a 16-month duration. Two intruder incidents allegedly came about inside of 12 days of one another.

In the primary example, a suspected trespasser were given onto the couple’s assets on their wedding ceremony anniversary of May 17, 2022. A 2nd incident concerned the couple’s safety crew confronting an alleged trespasser who agreed to go away the valuables with out additional motion taken.

Another suspected intruder used to be stuck at the assets in 2020 and ordered no longer to go back.

Crossbow Intruder

Jaswant Singh Chail pleaded responsible to at least one depend of seeking to “injure or alarm” the Queen below the Treason Act, ownership of an offensive weapon and making threats to kill following a botched Christmas Day 2021 break-in try at Windsor Castle, Sky News reported.

Prosecutors mentioned in court docket that Chail formulated a plan over the process a 12 months to take a look at to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II as revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh bloodbath in India, the place loads have been killed right through a conflict between British colonial forces and independence activists.

Chail allegedly vlogged about his purpose to invade Windsor Castle whilst armed with a crossbow and dressed in a Star Wars masks. Prosecutors came upon that the suspect used to be inspired to hold out his plan by means of an AI chatbot that he thought to be his “girlfriend.”

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“I’m sorry for what I’ve done and what I will do. I’m going to attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the Royal Family,” he mentioned in a single chilling vlog.

Police apprehended Chail at the grounds of Windsor Castle earlier than he may just raise via his plot. He used to be sentenced to 9 years in custody.

Windsor Castle Fire

A raging fireplace destroyed 115 rooms – together with 9 State Rooms — at Windsor Castle within the early morning hours of November 20, 1992 after a focus ignited a curtain inside of Queen Victoria’s Private Chapel.

By the time the fireplace used to be noticed, it had already moved past the chapel and engulfed the close by St George’s Hall subsequent door. As firefighters have been busy the use of 36 pumps to take a look at to extinguish the flames, royal team of workers desperately attempted eliminating as many artistic endeavors and different ancient pieces from the valuables earlier than they have been burned. Their exceptional efforts have been a hit, as just a rosewood sideboard and a Sir William Beechey portray have been misplaced within the blaze.

Fire crews sooner or later contained the placement after 15 hours. It took an in depth reconstruction effort over the direction of 5 years to totally repair Windsor Castle by means of 1997.

Bedroom Intruder

Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace two times in July 1982, together with entering Queen Elizabeth II’s bed room in his 2nd try. Fagan allegedly made it over barbed twine fencing on Buckingham Palace’s partitions after which scaled a drainpipe, earlier than getting into the royal circle of relatives’s residing quarters.

The Queen aroused from sleep to search out Fagan protecting a shard of glass at her bedside, so she engaged him in a long dialog to be able to stay him occupied. When her try to alert the palace switchboard went unanswered, she in the end used the alarm bell at her bedside.

Fagan used to be apprehended however wasn’t in fact charged with trespassing within the Queen’s bed room because of a quirk in British regulation on the time. (It wasn’t till Buckingham Palace was a “designated site” in 2005 that trespassing there was against the law.)

The intruder used to be charged with robbery of wine from the valuables however the Palace in the long run dropped all adjustments when he agreed to go through psychiatric care.

Netflix’s hit sequence The Crown dramatized the ordeal within the season 4 episode “Fagan,” the place Slow Horses megastar Tom Brooke performed the intruder and Olivia Colman portrayed Queen Elizabeth II.

Cigarette Burns

Former Buckingham Palace kitchen staffer Agnes Cooke published in his ebook Yes, Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants that Prince Philip’s mom Princess Alice of Battenberg time and again brought about harm whilst taking cigarette breaks with a lady-in-waiting running for the royal circle of relatives within the 1960s (by means of Marie Claire).

“Well, there was a lady-in-waiting who was very friendly with Philip’s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, when Alice was living at Buckingham Palace, and they used to smoke cigarettes together in Alice’s apartment — so much so that they regularly set fire to it,” Cooke showed.

She went on, “And despite being very grand indeed — a member of one of Britain’s oldest and most aristocratic families — this particular lady-in-waiting used to wander about with a cigarette stuck behind her ear, like a coal miner or a carpenter.”

Princess Alice of Battenberg died in 1969 after spending the overall two years of her lifestyles residing on the palace.