Queen’s alarm ‘clashed with colours’

Press, 11 October 1982, Page 9

Queen’s alarm ‘clashed with colours’

NZPA London An alarm installed in the Queen’s bedroom after Michael Fagan managed to breach the conventional security, was not wired up because it clashed with the colour scheme, said a newspaper report. The "Mail on Sunday” said that several extra security , devices were fitted at Buck-

ingham Palace while the Royal Family were on holiday recently at Balmoral.

But the palace officials were concerned that the heavy blue box with a red “panic" button would look ugly against the predominantly delicate pastel shades of the Queen’s bedroom. They decided to consult the Queen before connecting it.

Officers from Scotland Yard’s reorganised Royalty Protection Department discovered the security lapse just 24 hours before the Queen was due to return from Scotland two weeks ago.

They insisted that the alarm be connected immediately. The new alarm replaces a night bell that rang in the corridor outside her bedroom and in a nearby pantry. But at the time of Fagan's intrusion no-one was close enough to hear the bell. Meanwhile, the "Sunday Times" reported yesterday that Fagan had decided not to appeal against being sent to a top security mental hospital under section 60 of the Mental Health Act.