The Queen’s most crazy, dangerous and bizarre moments
From half-naked paragliders to a cup of tea with a palace intruder, the Queen faced some of the weirdest security threats to befall a world leader and lived to tell the tale.
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As the most famous woman in the world, the Queen was subjected to enormous scrutiny, and some truly bizarre and potentially dangerous interactions with the public.
Perhaps one of the strangest happened on February 5, 1994, when a half-naked man landed a
motorised paraglider on the roof of Buckingham Palace.
Reported by the BBC as “the first time Buckingham Palace had come under aerial assault since World War II’’, the stunt was carried out by an American, James Miller, a then 30 year old who spent an inordinate amount of time getting into trouble through airborne shenanigans.
Three months earlier, in Las Vegas, he had parachuted into the open-air world heavyweight boxing match between Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield.
That incident ended with him beaten unconscious by audience members.
The British response to his 7.30am arrival on the roof of Buckingham Palace, dressed in half a red jumpsuit, was more measured.
Miller had time to strip off his suit and reveal he was only wearing green paint from the waist down, before he was arrested and removed from the palace grounds.
While the Queen was not home at the time, the security breach caused major concern, coming a few years after another man had managed to get into Buckingham Palace – and find his way into the monarch’s bedroom.
On July 9, 1982, Michael Fagan, then 31, made his second successful foray into Buckingham Palace grounds, scaling the walls, climbing a drainpipe, and letting himself into the Queen’s private apartments.
The incident, about 7.15am, happened at the perfect time for Fagan to find the Queen, alone, in her bedroom, after her police guard outside the door went off duty without waiting for his replacement to arrive.
According to the first reports of the incident, he sat on the Queen’s bed for 10 minutes talking to her and sharing a cup of tea, until she was able to raise the alarm by calmly calling for a footman after Fagan asked for a cigarette.
However, in 2012, Fagan gave an interview to the British press where he said she had immediately left the room and raised the alarm with footmen and police, who returned and arrested him.
A maid cleaning a neighbouring room had delivered cigarettes, however.
While Fagan meant no harm to the Queen, the incident shocked palace officials and police, and security was further tightened around Buckingham Palace.
It wasn’t the first potential security risk to the Queen’s life.
In 1981, the Queen was riding her horse, Burmese, through central London during the Trooping of the Colour parade when a teenager fired six shots towards her.
The shots were found to be blanks, fired by 17-year-old Michael Sarjeant, who was quickly subdued by royal guards and police, but the incident spooked the Queen’s horse, which she was riding sidesaddle down the Horse Guards Parade.
The Queen calmed the horse and continued along the parade route, and no harm was done.
In one of the Queen’s quirkier moments, Her Royal Highness took part in a skit with James Bond actor Daniel Craig, with the pair filmed striding through the corridors of Buckingham Palace, alongside two of her beloved corgis.
Filmed as part of the opening ceremony for the London Olympics, the Queen then parachuted into the opening ceremony of the Games, via a stunt double.
The clip, which also showcased London landmarks such as the Palaces of Westminster and Big Ben, was the highlight of the opening ceremony and has since been watched millions of times on the internet.
A second skit dropped just this year, when the Queen filmed a heartwarming scene taking tea with Paddington Bear as part of celebrations for her Platinum Jubilee.
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Originally published as The Queen’s most crazy, dangerous and bizarre moments
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