Intruder breaks into Buckingham Palace while Queen Elizabeth was sleeping

An intruder scaled the fence and gained entrance into Buckingham Palace while the Queen slept in her bedroom.

Upon gaining entrance, the 22-year-old man began banging on doors in an attempt to get inside the palace in the early hours of the morning. He even got just metres away from the Queen but doors to the monarch's room are usually locked in the early hours of the morning so he couldn't get in.

It is understood that the Queen was the only senior royal sleeping in the Palace at the time.

Police on site took around four minutes to detain him as they tried to assess if he was armed, sources say.

A royal insider told The Sun: "This intruder got into the Palace almost 37 years to the day since Michael Fagan ended up getting inside the Queen’s bedroom.

"There is a genuine theory and very real fear that he could have been launching a copycat operation.

"How is it possible all these years later that someone can climb the fence and get right inside the grounds without being stopped immediately?

"What about heat censors and CCTV? The Queen’s safety should be paramount."

Scotland Yard say the man was arrested on suspicion of trespass and was held at around 2am by officers from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command. The man was not found in possession of any offensive weapons and the incident is not being treated as terrorism-related.

He remains in custody at a central London police station, Metro UK reports.