Two masked men broke into the Windsor Castle estate, scaling a six-foot fence during the night while Prince William and Kate Middleton were sleeping nearby in Adelaide Cottage, The Sun reported.
The two men targeted Shaw Farm, a working farm within the castle’s security zone, stealing a pick-up truck and a quad bike stored in a barn. They reportedly used a stolen truck to smash through a security gate to escape.
“They must have been watching Windsor Castle for a while,” a source was quoted as saying by The Sun. King Charles and Queen Camilla were not at the estate during the incident. However, the Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their three children were believed to be in their nearby residence.
Adelaide Cottage is just five minutes from Windsor Castle. The family regularly uses the now-damaged gate, which is the closest exit to their property.
The incident occurred after armed officers had been removed from Windsor Castle’s public entrances, although security patrols are still present on the estate grounds.
The Prince and Princess of Wales moved to Adelaide Cottage from Kensington Palace in the summer of 2022. During the late Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, the procession at Windsor Castle began from the Shaw Farm gate.