In the decades following his Buckingham Palace break ins, Fagan was in and out of the spotlight with occasional interviews, as well as other legal trouble, including an arrest for indecent exposure which he described to the Independent as a "misunderstanding.". Every weekend, Michael Fagan and his wife Nancy would attend memorial services and funerals for retired and fallen police officers and firefighters. I hope she lives to be a hundred. All I found were some bins with Corgi Food written on them. He was barefoot, unshaven, and wearing only a sweatshirt and jeans. The Times' lead front-page story on Tuesday 13th July 1982 (titled 'Gaps in palace security thrown up by intruder') revealed that for his second break-in, Fagan climbed into the palace via an unchecked window in the offices of Vice Admiral Sir Peter Ashmore, the Master of the Household. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. ''It was Australian wine. He has also participated in World Bowling Tour (WBT) and European Bowling Tour (EBT) events, and as a member of Team USA in international competitions. Did Michael Fagan really sit on the Queen's bed? In 1972, he married his wife Christine, with whom he had four children. He broke an ashtray, managing to cut his hand. As he sits on the bus driving past Buckingham Palace, he is inspired to break in by scaling a fence and entering the grounds. What transpired between the Queen and Fagan has since gone down in history as one of the most dramatic royal security breaches on record. In 1966, he left home at 18 to run away from his father, who Fagan said was violent. He attended Compton Street School until the age of 16, when he left home. "It was very ordinary. "I was scareder than I'd ever been in my life," Fagan said of what happened next. He entered the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth II at about 7:15 am carrying a fragment of glass. It is one of the Royal family's most infamous incidents: the story of how an unemployed Londoner, Michael Fagan, broke into Buckingham Palace and entered the Queen's bedroom while she was in bed and had a conversation with her, covered in The Crown season four, episode five. The Queen, dressed in her nightgown, sits down with Fagan to tell him 'the state can help with all of this' . Breaking into the home of the British monarch, let alone Her Majesty's bedroom while she sleeps, should be no mean feat; which is why when a man managed to do just that with relatively little effort in 1982, it kicked off one of the biggest security scandals in British history. He had a heart attack and had COVID-19 in 2020. She went past me and ran out of the room; her little bare feet running across the floor.". 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. Wybrew said in a statement at the time, according to The Guardian. [1] In 1955, he attended Compton Street School in Clerkenwell (later St Peter & St Paul RC Primary School). The Palace Intruder Speaks Out About the "Artistic License" Taken on 'The Crown', 35 Celebrity Relationships That Upset Fans, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Three years earlier, he became infamous as the man who broke into Buckingham Palace. Back then, trespassing was only a civil offense rather than a criminal one. But The Crown did take significant creative license. and Michael Klein of Creative Artists Agency for broadcasting. The Netflix series dedicates an entire episode to the security breach, with English actor Tom Brooke portraying the infamous prowler. Over the years, Fagan has given various accounts of his reasons for breaking into the palace that morning. 8am - 10am, Fast Car ", Curiously, Fagan added: "Everything about it is fiction. Adrienne Westenfeld is the Books and Fiction Editor at Esquire, where she oversees books coverage, edits fiction, and curates the Esquire Book Club. Reports at the time suggested that the Queen held a lengthy conversation with Fagan, intended to buy time until help arrived; however, Fagan tells the story differently. Check out our guide to the best series on Netflix and best movies on Netflix, or visit our TV Guide. "I went back because I thought 'that's naughty, that's naughty that I can walk round there'." He breaks into the queens bedroom because he wants her to know how people like him were left behind by the conservative, deregulated state. However, those reports still don't confirm whether or not Fagan actually sat down on the bed. The .css-1me6ynq{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#125C68;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#125C68;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-1me6ynq:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:#595959;}latest season of The Crown has incited an intense debate over its use of an "artistic license" a critique levied not by the royals themselves, but from Michael Fagan, the Buckingham Palace intruder depicted in the fifth episode. He then entered the palace through an unlocked window on the roof, and wandered around for the next 30 minutes while eating cheddar cheese and crackers. The biggest security breach in palace history has been fictionalized before The Crown. According to The Crown, it takes palace intrusion for the Queen to have an unvarnished conversation with a commoner, and hear about life on the ground. Fagan wasn't charged with the trespass at Buckingham Palace on July 9, 1982 because under British law it was considered a civil offense, not a crime, and would require the Queen to personally press charges. The Queen phoned the palace switchboard twice for police, but none arrived. Fagan is reportedly unhappy about The Crown's portrayal of their exchange. However, Fagan did go on to commit more crimes. William John Fagan Jr.; son, Brandon Michael Fagan; wife, Misty, and their two children, Patrick and Jacob; and countless colleagues, friend and students who . (He was acquitted.) In 1982, Michael Fagan was an unemployed painter and decorator. He added, "Her nightie was one of those Liberty prints and it was down to her knees. "I hadn't thought about going in there until that last second when it came into my head to do it, so I was shocked.". Then in 1997, Fagan, his wife, and their 20-year-old son were charged with conspiring to sell heroin. It was a fiction, I wouldn't have a go at the Queen. He scaled the palace's 14-foot-high (4.3m) perimeter wall that was topped with revolving spikes and barbed wire. He then wandered through the palace halls, opening (and drinking) a bottle of wine belonging to Prince Charles. The Crown gets that much right. The first time was on June 7, 1982 after his wife had left him. His longest prison stint came in 1997, after Fagan, his wife, and 20-year-old son were charged with dealing heroin. However, speaking in 2012, he said she left the room immediately to find security. I just sat and waited for someone to come by.". "I was thinking what to say and she said 'Get out, get out' and she jumped out of bed," Fagan told the BBC. He even suggests that the incident may have stemmed from putting too many magic mushrooms in his soup five months prior, saying, "I forgot you're only supposed to take a little handful. It was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears; I tried one throne and was like 'this one's too soft'. I was fortunate enough to get in, and couldn't say no." Fagan was a three-time all-American for the Red Storm during his. Here's what actually happened then and where Fagan ultimately ended up. Yet perhaps the most shocking thing about Fagans unforgettable break-in isnt that it happenedits that it wasnt the first time hed breached palace security. Michael Fagan was a painter and decorator from Clerkenwell, London, born 8th August 1948. According to. Fagan is pleased with the performance of Tom Brooke, but jokes, Al Pacino would have been better. Yet all these years later, Fagan has no regrets. Fagan made an appearance in Channel 4's The Antics Roadshow,[13] an hour-long 2011 TV documentary directed by the artist Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz charting the history of people behaving oddly in public. I eventually found a door and walked out into the back gardens, climbed over the wall and walked down the Mall, looking back and thinking 'ooh,'" he told the Independent. He grew up in a loving family in Norwalk and had . Soon after the first break-in, Fagan was arrested for stealing a car, and spent three weeks in prison. The 1980s saw an intruder break into Buckingham Palace, before chatting to the Queen in her bedroom. THE CROWN season four depicts Michael Fagan's infamous Buckingham Palace break-in but what the Netflix drama does not show is that the Palace intruder was actually high on magic mushrooms at the time. He was previously portrayed by Eddie Marsan in the Sky Arts film Walking the Dogs, in which Emma Thompson played Queen Elizabeth II and Russell Tovey played the footman. Fagans wine theft. On that occasion, according to the The Guardian, Fagan slipped in through the open window of the room of one of the royal housemaids, Sarah Carter, who was actually in her room reading at the time. He was unemployed at the time of the break-ins. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Known for his high backswing, he was given the nickname "King of Swing". What do I do? He claims the Queen simply asked, "What are you doing here?" In the case of Michael Fagan, the man who became infamous after breaking into Buckingham Palace in 1982 and finding his way to the Queen's bedroom, the answer to the show's treatment of his. Merely a month after his acquittal, Fagan appeared in court again on charges of vehicle theft; he was then committed to a maximum security mental institution in Liverpool for three months. I didnt see anybody, all that ducking and diving. 05:46 EDT 19 Nov 2020 In 2019, Fagan told The Mirror that the Queen left before they could speak: "She went past me and ran out of the room; her little bare feet running across the floor.". He told the Daily Mail: "[Peter Morgan's] got his own agenda. On July 9, 1982, at just around 7 a.m., Michael Fagan shimmied up a Buckingham Palace drainpipe all the way to a flat roof that was only a few feet away from the palaces main building. Fagan was arrested but wasn't charged with trespassing because it was a civil offence and would have compromised the Queen's role as head of state if she had to appear in court to give evidence. Michael Fagan performing with punk band the Bollock Brothers, 26 April 1983. Fagan made his way through the halls of Buckingham Palace unimpeded, twice setting off alarms without being caught. It was a big, big room with one little person in it. During his first break inwhere he also got in via drainpipehe found himself in Buckingham Palaces Room 108. One audience member wasn't pleased: Fagan himself. He pleads with the monarch to 'save us all from her Thatcher. I didnt speak to the Queen. Soon after, Fagan received a psychiatric evaluation, and spent three months in a psychiatric hospital. From there, he got a job as a painter and decorator which he worked on an off throughout the years. He found a bottle of Australian wine in the cabinet and poured himself a drink. While he may be a troubled soul, I don't think he's entirely to blame for it himself. They don't know what happened in there," he told The Telegraph. With a shard of the broken ashtray in hand, he entered the Queens bedroom, opened the curtains surrounding her bed, and sat down on the foot of the bed. Who Is Michael Fagan, the Man Who Broke Into Queen Elizabeth's Bedroom? Shortly thereafter, the Queens footman arrived; he served Fagan a glass of Famous Grouse scotch, assisting the Queen and her ragtag team in stalling Fagan until the police, at last, arrived to remove Fagan from the palace. But I couldn't find a door which said WC, Fagan told The Independent UK. I was surprised I wasnt captured straight away. Ultimately, Fagan made his way into the residential wing of the palace and, apparently unwittingly, to the bedroom of none other than the Queen. I drank it because I was waiting for someone to come. And, the second time around, someone certainly did. In 1982, Michael Fagan was a 32-year-old unemployed decorator. Help came in the form of a footman, who stood watch until police arrived. In 1966, he left home at 18 to escape his father, who, Fagan says, was violent. In late July, Fagan's mother said, "He thinks so much of the Queen. Born 1950 in Clerkenwell, London, Michael Fagan was the oldest of three children. However, he had disappeared before the guards arrived, who then didn't believe the housemaid's report. The Hollywood Reporter claims that in the episode, the Queen and Fagan discuss "love, family and freedom." But unlike the dramatic scene shown in The Crown, there was no long conversation between Fagan (played by Tom Brooke) and the Queen (Olivia Colman) at her bedside about Margaret Thatcher's policies and the struggles of the working class. The only person he hurt was himself. I don't think they spent too much on decoration. He was committed to a mental hospital at sentencing, but by the following January a medical tribunal at the hospital determined that he no longer needed to be detained, according to the New York Times. Michael Fagan's break-in at the palace was, at the time, only a 'civil wrong' rather than a criminal offence. Michael Fagan, seen here in front of the Tower of London, became famous for breaking in to Buckingham Palace in 1982. [6] He was charged with theft of the wine, but the charges were dropped when he was committed for psychiatric evaluation. Theyve just done it to have a pop at the Queen. If she does, I'll send her a hundredth-birthday telegram," he told The Independent. Download 'Fast Car ' on iTunes. All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. The Crown gets that much right. The judge at the time described Fagan's "unusual capacity" for breaking and entering "truly formidable". On June 7, 1982, Fagan, whose wife had just left him, climbed through a maid's bedroom window into Buckingham Palace with one mission in mind: to use the restroom. 21:24 EDT 19 Nov 2020. According to, well, Fagan himself: In a recent interview with The Telegraph, he recounted that they didnt converse for very long at all. He consequently served four years in prison. Lauren Hubbard is a freelance writer and Town & Country contributor who covers beauty, shopping, entertainment, travel, home decor, wine, and cocktails. ', See Princess Eugenie's Rare Photo of Her Son, Mandy Moore's IG Gave 'This Is Us' Fans Flashbacks, Sharon Osbourne Gives Plastic Surgery Update. Photograph: R Brigden/Getty Images He had two younger sisters, Marjorie and Elizabeth. Watching previous seasons of The Crown before diving into .css-gegin5{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#9a0500;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-gegin5:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}season five? Maybe it was due a redec?" It was being used to store gifts the public sent for the Prince and Princess of Waless baby. Fagan's first entry into the palace happened in early June 1982. So I had to pee on the corgi food. Then he slipped into the chambers of Queen Elizabeth II. His wife, Christine, had just left him, per The Independent. "Its a complete fiction, the bit about me and the Palace. Fagan was married in 1972, and had four children, aged 3 to 10. He was released three months later, according to the BBC. Fagan's. Aged 73 in 2022, Michael Fagan is reportedly still living in London. Shes destroying the country, he says of Thatcher. 'Everything about it is fiction. Instead, she has shallow greetings with well-dressed, smiling crowds, as depicted in the start of "Fagan.". What Happened to Michael Fagan After He Snuck Into the Queen's Bedroom? According to the real Fagan, The Crown misrepresents what was actually said inside the Queen's bedroom. The man himself denies they had an in-depth conversation, but The Crown has turned it into a significant exchange. I walked straight in, Fagan later said of the incident. Why? The right to work, the right to be ill, the right to be old, the right to be frail, to be humangone.. He enters the building through a window and is able to walk into the throne room, where he sits in one of the thrones, before drinking a bottle of wine and smashing a vase. It was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears; I tried one throne and was like 'this one's too soft'. He served four years in prison. The Crown Creator on Diana & Meghan's Royal Exits, Why Princess Anne Might Be the Coolest Royal, You Can Now Stay at the Castle from The Crown, Your Complete Guide to the Bridgerton Family, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, "I was scareder than I'd ever been in my life," Fagan told. It was one of the most extraordinary moments of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, and one that is still unbelievable 40 years later. He also had two younger sisters, Marjorie and Elizabeth. In 1997, Fagan (together with his wife and 20-year-old son) was imprisoned for four years for conspiring to supply heroin. July 9, 1982 was not the first time that Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace. .css-1fgik18{color:#323232;display:block;font-family:NewParis,NewParis-fallback,Georgia,Times,serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;-webkit-font-smoothing:auto;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-1fgik18:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1fgik18{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1fgik18{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1fgik18{font-size:1.3125rem;line-height:1.2;}}The Crown Will Return for a 6th Season, The History Behind the Royal Title Prince of Wales, King Charles & Princess Anne Through the Years, Inside the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's Home, The Crown Is Filming Will & Kate's Love Story, The Crown Has Cast Young Prince William & Kate, Inside Charles and Camilla's Country Home, Helena Bonham Carter Says The Crown Should End. "[7] He spent the next three months in a psychiatric hospital[8] before being released on 21 January 1983. (Jonathan Banks/Shutterstock) . In one of the most high-profile security breaches in royal history, British man Michael Fagan, then 31, managed to scale palace walls and make his way into Queen Elizabeth's chambers while she . . In a statement, he apologised to the Queen, whom he described as "wonderfully understanding," before signing himself as, "Humbly, Michael.". "I walked straight in. Speaking to FEMAIL, he said: 'Hes got his own agenda. I was just waiting to be captured," he said. It was the first break-in that sent him to court, where he was charged with the theft of Prince Charles wineand summarily acquitted by a jury in just 14 minutes. Meanwhile the footman was outside exercising the palace corgis, and the maid was cleaning in another room with the door shut "so that the noise of her work would not disturb Her Majesty". He walked into the Queen's bedroom and pulled back the curtain to her bed, prompting Her Majesty to ask, 'What are you doing here?'. ", "Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Sites under Section 128) Order 2007", "Intruder who broke into sleeping Queen's bedroom reacts to her death", "Walking The Dogs Sky Arts Comedy Drama", "The Crown, magic mushrooms and the truth behind Michael Fagan's palace break-in", "The Crown season 4: Palace intruder Michael Fagan 'wasn't consulted' over incident depiction", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Fagan_(intruder)&oldid=1145125531, This page was last edited on 17 March 2023, at 12:14. Michael was a New York City . Shortly, footman Paul Wybrew was summoned, who then escorted Fagan across the corridor the the Queen's pantry. In the summer of 1982, Michael Fagan managed to break into Buckingham Palace more than once, and even ended up in the Queen's bedroom and spoke to Her Majesty before being taken into custody. I was surprised I wasn't captured straight away," he told the court at a related hearing for burglary in 1982. Fagan famously managed to scale the Palace walls before. .css-ssumvd{display:block;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.0625rem;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.25;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-ssumvd:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-ssumvd{letter-spacing:0rem;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}Your Complete Guide to the Bridgerton Family, Pink Claps Back at Body Shamer on Twitter, Jada Pinkett Smiths Red Table Talk Is Canceled, See Kelly Clarkson Sing a Duet with Carol Burnett, Watch Adeles Final Carpool Karaoke Episode, Dwyane Wade Left Florida to Protect Trans Daughter, Oprah Wishes Carol Burnett a Happy 90th Birthday, Martha Stewart Shares Angry Instagram Rant, Judy Blume, Forever the Patron Saint of Preteens. For more ways to live your best life plus all things Oprah, sign up for our newsletter! Speaking to The Sun, he said that he did not have any regrets for his palace visits: "People who have done marvellous things get to kneel in front of her to be honoured. Michael Fagan, who gained access to Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom in Buckingham Palace in 1982. Michael Fagan Is Still Infamous for His Buckingham Palace Break-In . In The Crown, Michael Fagan's local MP, 'Richard Hastings', sarcastically tells him to take up his grievances about Margaret Thatcher with the Queen. Aged 73 in 2022, Michael Fagan is reportedly still living in London. Try 12 issues for 1 today - never miss an issue. The same Times article also detailed some previous breaches in security, including an alleged incident where an officer was "in bed with a maid when he should have been on duty outside the Queen's bedchamber," and how officers were reportedly found "paddling in the goldfish ponds". Fagan, who has offered differing accounts over the years, has most recently told The Telegraph that they didn't speak much at all. It was a fiction, I wouldn't have a go at the Queen. Among the men and women standing in line in the dole queue was Fagan, a painter and decorator who was destined to cause one of the worst royal security breaches in modern memory, when he broke into Buckingham Palace and entered the Queen's bedroom, carrying a piece of broken glass. Additionally, "when the Queen tried to summon help when he entered her room, she found a 'panic button' was not working". Fagan compared the nature of his visit to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, describing how he sat on multiple thrones in order to find the softest perch. At around 7am on July 9, 1982, Fagan scaled Buckingham Palace's 14-foot-high perimeter wall, which had revolving spikes and barbed wire, and then climbed up a drainpipe before finding his way into the Queen's bedroom at about 7.15am. Instead he was charged under the Theft Act with stealing a bottle of wine from the palace during his first break-in, in June 1982.