The Crown season four is finally on Netflix to give viewers an insight into what happened behind the closed doors of Buckingham Palace from 1979 to 1990.
One episode, titled Fagan, focuses on a bizarre security breach at the palace.
Instead of showing it from the Queen’s perspective, The Crown approaches it from the eye of the intruder himself.
On July 9, 1982, London-born decorator Michael Fagan decided to break into Buckingham Palace.
At around 7am, Fagan climbed up the drainpipe to a flat room that was a few feet away from the palace’s main building.
Michael Fagan broke into the Queen’s bedroom in 1982 (Image: Press Association)
He climbed through an unlocked window, into one of the palace’s historic halls, and slipped into Queen Elizabeth II’s bedroom.
Fagan reportedly spent 10 minutes in the Queen’s bedchamber until she was able to get help.
But according to Fagan, this wasn’t the first time he had managed to sneak into Buckingham Palace.
During Fagan’s first attempt he managed to climb up a drainpipe, but was reportedly spotted by a housemaid who alerted security.
Michael Fagan claimed it was the second time he had broken into Buckingham Palace (Image: Mirrorpix)
But when the guards reached the scene, Fagan had disappeared.
At the time of the incident, Fagan’s break-in was a civil wrong, and not a criminal offence.
As a result he was not charged with trespassing.
He was later charged with theft, relating to a bottle of wine he drank, but those charges were dropped.
Breaking into Buckingham Palace didn’t become a criminal offence until 2007 (Image: Getty Images)
The unemployed decorator didn’t go to jail, but instead he was committed for a psychiatric evaluation.
He spent six months in a psychiatric hospital, but was released on January 21, 1983.
Breaking into the palace didn’t become a criminal offence until 2007, when it became a “designated site” for the purposes of section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
Fagan claimed at the time: “I don’t know why I did it, something just got into my head.
“I went back because I thought ‘that’s naughty, that’s naughty that I can walk about there.’”
Fagan broke into the Queen’s bedroom (Image: UK Press via Getty Images)
Two years after breaking into the palace Fagan was given a three month suspended sentence for attacking a policeman in Wales.
Fagan was sent to prison for four years in 1997 after he and his son were charged for conspiring to supply heroin.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
