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An armed man has been arrested after breaking into the grounds of Windsor Castle on Christmas Day.
Officers from Thames Valley Police (TVP) and the Metropolitan Police responded to a security breach at around 8.30am within the grounds of the castle in Berkshire where the Queen is in residence.
TVP said a 19-year-old man from Southampton was arrested on suspicion of breach or trespass of a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon.
The man, who is in custody, was not in any buildings on the estate and “security processes were triggered within moments of the man entering the grounds”, police said.
The Queen is spending Christmas Day at Windsor Castle and was expected to have lunch with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
Charles, Camilla, Edward and Sophie, along with their children Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn, attended a church service in St George’s Chapel, in the castle grounds, at 10.45am on Christmas morning.
TVP Superintendent Rebecca Mears said: “An investigation is ongoing following this incident and we are working with colleagues from the Metropolitan police.
“The man has been arrested on suspicion of breach or trespass of a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon.
“He remains in custody at this time.
“We can confirm security processes were triggered within moments of the man entering the grounds and he did not enter any buildings.
“Members of the royal family have been informed about the incident.
“We do not believe there is a wider danger to the public.”
It comes as the Queen poignantly reflected on a year of personal grief in a moving Christmas Day message, saying there was “one familiar laugh missing” as she acknowledged the death of her husband amid the continuing impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The monarch, in what is likely to be regarded as her most fulsome public tribute to her “beloved Philip” since he died, remarked how his “mischievous, enquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him”, as she empathised with families who had lost loved ones this year.
She also spoke fondly of her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, and of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, for their focus on climate change.