Queen Elizabeth II kept some of the most valuable pieces of her jewelry collection, including tiaras worth millions, stored not in high-security vaults but inside ordinary wardrobes at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. Royal editor Emily Andrews revealed that the late Queen’s frequently worn jewels were organized on labeled shelves within these wardrobes, ready for any female member of the royal family to borrow. Andrews admitted she had always assumed the collection was kept deep underground, but the reality was far more domestic, and the system has reportedly remained unchanged under King Charles III. While a more secure vault does exist roughly 40 feet beneath Buckingham Palace, where the late Queen’s private collection was kept in a converted air raid shelter fitted with alarms, the everyday tiaras and brooches worn for state occasions were kept within easy reach.
This casual approach to safeguarding priceless heirlooms becomes more troubling when examined alongside a series of security failures that have plagued the royal household over the years. In 2022, according to royal journalist Robert Jobson’s book “Windsor Legacy: A Royal Dynasty,” Queen Camilla’s jewelry was stolen while it was left unattended in an unlocked car at Beaconsfield services on the M40 motorway. The incident occurred while Charles and Camilla were en route to an airport for a royal tour of Canada during Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Three royal aides left a bag labeled with Camilla’s official title unattended; one stepped away for a cigarette while the others went inside for coffee, and a local gang seized the opportunity.
MI5 was reportedly deployed to the area, and the thieves were apprehended and the jewels recovered within hours through CCTV tracking. However, no charges were filed and no public record was created, as senior palace officials chose to bury the episode to avoid embarrassment during the Jubilee. Jobson noted that no one had mentioned the theft until his book brought it to light, calling the incident a catastrophic failure of royal security protocol. Decades earlier, the palace faced an even more direct breach.
In 1982, Michael Fagan, an unemployed painter, broke into Buckingham Palace twice. During his first break-in in June, he triggered three alarms that police dismissed as faulty, wandered the palace for half an hour eating cheese and crackers, and sat on the throne before leaving. On July 9th of that year, he scaled the palace wall and climbed a drainpipe to the Queen’s private bedroom at around 6:00 a. m.
The Queen woke when Fagan disturbed her curtain. She called the palace switchboard twice and used her bedside alarm bell, but a subsequent investigation revealed the wiring of her bedroom alarm button was incomplete, so her calls for help went nowhere. The duty armed officer had stepped away before his replacement arrived. A footman who had been walking the Queen’s corgis eventually helped detain Fagan.
The incident prompted a complete overhaul of royal security, including more armed officers and upgraded alarm systems. Security lapses continued into the modern era. In 2003, Daily Mirror reporter Ryan Perry spent two months working undercover as a royal footman after responding to a job posting on the Buckingham Palace website. He provided two references, one fabricated, and omitted that he was a journalist.
No thorough background check was conducted, and no one searched him or his bags. During President George W. Bush’s state visit, Perry served breakfast on the presidential floor and attended the state banquet, taking secret photographs of the Queen’s breakfast table and the presidential bedroom while holding an all-access security pass. Perry stated that had he been a terrorist intending to assassinate the Queen or President Bush, he could have done so with ease.
In response, the Queen allocated an additional £150,000 per year for enhanced security vetting, and a new department was established to assist in vetting palace applicants. Two more reporters later attempted similar infiltrations, showing that the scandal alone was not enough to close the security gaps fully. Beyond security failures, the royal family has faced controversies over how it handles its own legacy. When Queen Camilla wore a necklace of emeralds and diamonds that originally belonged to Queen Alexandra and was gifted to Princess Diana as a wedding present from the Queen Mother, it sparked public outrage.
Camilla wore the redesigned piece as a brooch in 2019, making her the first royal since Diana to don it. Many royal fans condemned the decision as tacky, while others defended Camilla, noting the piece belonged to the royal collection rather than Diana personally. Buckingham Palace said Camilla chose to wear it because it once belonged to the Queen Mother and she believed it was appropriate. Jewelry experts estimated the redesigned brooch’s value at around $137,000.
Kate Middleton has also worn the refashioned brooch, most recently in September 2025, and her appearance in it was received much more positively. One of the most audacious crimes in British history remains Colonel Thomas Blood’s 1671 attempt to steal the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. Blood, disguised as a parson, befriended the elderly keeper of the Jewel House over several visits. On May 9th, he threw a cloak over the keeper, struck him with a mallet, and flattened the Imperial State Crown to hide it under his coat.
An accomplice hid the Royal Orb in his trousers while another tried to saw the scepter in half. The plot was foiled when the keeper’s son returned unexpectedly from military service and raised the alarm. Blood was captured but was later pardoned by King Charles II, who was so impressed by his audacity that he restored his Irish estates and granted him a pension. Even the royal family’s personal courage under threat has become part of its history.
On March 20th, 1974, Princess Anne was returning to Buckingham Palace when Ian Ball forced her car to stop and shot her protection officer, her driver, a police officer, and a journalist. Ball told Anne he planned to kidnap her for a £2 million ransom he claimed he would donate to the NHS for mental health treatment. Anne famously told him she didn’t think she wanted to go with him, later describing herself as “scrupulously polite” because she thought it would be silly to be overly rude. A former boxer who happened to be walking by punched Ball and helped Anne to safety.
All those shot survived, and Ball was sentenced under the Mental Health Act, spending decades in secure psychiatric hospitals before reportedly being released in 2019. From wardrobes full of priceless tiaras to motorway jewel heists, bedroom intruders, and undercover reporters, the royal family’s relationship with its own security and legacy has been marked by repeated, serious failures. The systems designed to protect the monarchy and its treasures have failed more than once, and each breach has forced renewed scrutiny of how the crown safeguards what it holds most valuable.