New Delhi: A man pretending to be a “priest” spent one night at a barracks with British soldiers on duty to protect Queen Elizabeth near her Windsor Castle home, news agency Reuters reported, quoting the British army that said on Tuesday it had launched an investigation into this unprecedented security breach in recent times. The imposter was allegedly allowed into the barracks of the Coldstream Guards without being asked to show any credentials or identifiable documents.
He later ate, drank and shared stories with the soldiers, The Sun newspaper reported.
The incident took place last Wednesday, and the queen was not in Windsor that night, the report said.
Buckingham Palace said the man was escorted from the barracks at 0820 GMT.
Quoting a palace spokesman, the Reuters report said the incident was a matter of probe by the defence ministry.
"The army takes this breach of security extremely seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated as a matter of priority,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson was quoted as saying. "This incident is now part of an ongoing investigation and would be therefore inappropriate to comment further at this time."
The Coldstream Guards are an infantry regiment of the British Army and their responsibilities include the ceremonial role of protecting all royal palaces.
According to the Reuters report, the queen returned last Wednesday from a short break at her Sandringham home in eastern England, but she was not present at Windsor at the time of the security breach.
The Sun report said the imposter had claimed to be a priest, and told officers at the barracks that he was a friend of a member of the battalion's chaplain.
A source told the newspaper that the man was then invited in, was served food and drink, and that he shared with the soldiers many "tall stories".
The soldiers started to suspect his identity when the man "started talking about how he had worked as an ejector-seat test pilot and had some organs replaced", the Sun reported, quoting the source.