- The State Apartments at Windsor Castle.
The Irish tradition of breaching the security of the British queen in bizarre incidents is continuing, with a man sentenced for trespassing in the grounds of Windsor Castle in England.
The actions of Limerick-born Robert Pennefather have landed him with a ban on drinking in British pubs for a year, and a 14-day suspended prison sentence.
London's Westminster Magistrates Court was told of his drunken shenanigans last November.
Having scaled an eight-foot high gate, he stumbled through the grounds of the Berkshire royal residence, eventually coming within 20 meters of the queen's private apartments.
The court was told how the royal invasion was the result of an evening spent drinking with friends, in which they visited several nightclubs, however, 32-year-old Pennefather was alone when he entered the grounds, and was spotted "staggering" around by guards on CCTV.
The case echoes that of another famous Royal intrusion in 1982, when the queen awoke to find an Irishman sitting on the edge of her bed in Buckingham Palace.
Michael Fagan was 31 when he scaled a drainpipe and entered the royal bedchambers. It was his second successful intrusion at the palace, though the first time he had managed to find the queen's bedroom.
After sitting talking to her for a period, during which the queen phoned the police in panic, he ordered a maid to bring him cigarettes, and was eventually arrested when armed cops arrived.
Fagan ended up spending time in a psychiatric institution, and his mother famously said: "He thinks so much of the queen. I can imagine him just wanting to simply talk and say hello and discuss his problems."
