- Duke of York was mistaken for an intruder while walking in Palace garden
- He reacted with fury when heavily armed police told him to prove his identity
- But Metropolitan Police says no weapons were drawn and no force was used
- Encounter came after man was found wandering around Buckingham Palace
- DJ Victor Miller has now been detained until the Mental Health Act
 |
| Stopped: The Duke of York was ordered to 'verify his identity' by armed police officers in Buckingham Palace gardens |
Two heavily-armed policemen confronted him as he walked in broad daylight through the grounds, sources revealed last night.
The fifth-in-line to the throne stood his ground asking the officers 'Don't you know who I am?' and was said to have ‘made his thoughts plain’ during the highly-charged confrontation that followed.
A royal source said: ‘He was incredibly, incredibly angry. It was very much a case of guns being pointed at him and “halt who goes there”.’
Yesterday police issued a humiliating apology to the Duke of York over the extraordinary error.
According to the Daily Mirror, a source said that the Duke was red faced as he shouted at officers like a school teacher.
They said: 'It got pretty heated because he just kept repeating himself "Don't you know who I am?".
'He felt the officers had sneaked up on him and believed they had behaved disrespectfully towards him.'
They added that when the penny dropped they apologised to Prince Andrew. But this was not enough.
The source added: 'He gave them a proper dressing down, shouting at them like a schoolteacher before he walked back to the main house - completely livid.'
It was the second police fiasco within three days at what should be one of the most secure estates in Britain. Just 48 hours earlier officers discovered a mentally ill man attempting to smash down a door with a fire extinguisher after he scaled a 12ft wall and broke in.
Yesterday Scotland Yard revealed senior officers had personally apologised to Prince Andrew in a bid to draw a line under the latest matter.
 |
| Incident: Prince Andrew had gone for a walk around the gardens in Buckingham Palace when the two officers stopped him |
Scotland Yard declined to comment on reports that the officers shouted at the 53-year-old royal, telling him to ‘put your hands up’ and ‘get on the ground’.
A source said it would not be ‘uncommon’ for police to shout when challenging someone, but added that they did not know if he was ordered to lie down.
In return, Prince Andrew issued a conciliatory statement, saying: ‘The police have a difficult job to do balancing security for the royal family and deterring intruders, and sometimes they get it wrong.’
But hinting at his anger over the confrontation, he added: ‘I am grateful for their apology and look forward to a safe walk in the garden in the future.’
Royal sources said Andrew had been ‘infuriated’ by the fiasco. They continued to insist that weapons had been drawn by police, who were in a state of high tension following the previous security breach.
One source said: ‘[Andrew] has calmed down now but it wasn’t a pleasant experience at all, and he was furious at the time.’
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh attend church today. They were accompanied by Prince Charles
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were in
Aberdeenshire for the Braemar Gathering where they attended a church
service this morning
Another palace aide told the Mail: ‘The police have acknowledged the incident and apologised and he is happy to move on. He knows they have a difficult job to do and is supportive of them.’
However, senior palace sources also made clear that the prince had not been willing to make a public statement until he had received a full apology from the Met.
 |
| Break in: Victor Miller was arrested inside the palace |
The prince had just returned from a two-week holiday in Spain with his former wife Sarah, the Duchess of York, and their daughters Beatrice, 25, and Eugenie, 23.
The pair of uniformed marksmen challenged him after discovering him near a perimeter wall in a relatively isolated area of the palace garden.
Royal staff are said to be incredulous that those involved failed to recognise the prince, although officially police chiefs are saying they did nothing wrong.
One source said: ‘Once it was clear who Andrew was, he certainly made his thoughts plain about what had happened.
'It has been the subject of a lot of conversation, especially as Andrew is not exactly known for suffering fools gladly.’
His former protection officer Ken Wharfe describes him as rude, bossy and terse.
At the time of the incident, the Met’s Royal protection unit was on high alert after Victor Miller, 37, was caught inside the ornate State Rooms on Monday night.
The complex can be accessed only through an inner courtyard at the heart of the palace.
The DJ and sound engineer – who claims to have worked with stars including Amy Winehouse, N-Dubz and Tinchy Stryder – is being held in a secure mental health unit after being arrested and questioned on suspicion of burglary, trespass and criminal damage.
A suspected accomplice, a man aged 38, was found outside the palace and arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary.
No royals were present when the break-in took place but experts are incredulous that Miller got so far before being stopped.
The two incidents highlight the tension between police and the royal family over security.
The Queen – who is currently staying at Balmoral Castle with Prince Philip – has made it clear she wants the palace to be accessible to the public as possible.
Former Scotland Yard Commissioner Lord Blair played down the Prince Andrew confrontation as he said it was impossible to make any site completely secure.
‘They will have to look at this,’ he added. ‘The story of the burglar is a much more difficult story than the Andrew story.’
Last night, former royal protection chief Dai Davies said of the Prince Andrew incident: ‘[The officers] were alert and that was good, but saying that, they should know who His Royal Highness is.
‘It is a very big garden and we don’t know where he was and who he told, but you would expect officers to be aware if he had gone out.
'Why wasn’t anybody aware that he was having a walk about?
‘They are right to challenge anybody they don’t know, quite obviously if they don’t and something happens … they are criticised.’
A Metropolitan Police spokesman declined to comment on whether the officers would face any disciplinary action or ‘words of advice’.
He said: ‘Uniformed officers approached a man in the gardens of Buckingham Palace to verify his identity. The man was satisfactorily identified.
‘No weapons were drawn and no force was used.
'We can confirm that the man spoken to by officers was the Duke of York. We are making this public with His Royal Highness’s permission.
The Queen, pictured yesterday with Prince
Charles watch competitors at the Highland Games in Braemar, Scotland,
was told of the incident
No comments:
Post a Comment