Security fears after confidential Buckingham Palace documents released online
Confidential documents showing the inner workings of Buckingham Palace were released online in an apparent security breach.
The diagrams, statements and photographs revealed arrangements at an ‘essential’ room and access point servicing the royal residence.
The plans also described the palace’s wings and layout, including the likely location of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s private apartments.
Marked ‘confidential’ in red, the documents described how the rooms and wings are connected and showed key security features.
They were available online on Wednesday but have since been removed from Westminster City Council’s website.
The files were released at a time when the Royal Family has experienced a series of security scares and with a ring of steel likely to be put in place for the King’s Coronation next month.
Philip Grindell, a former Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Security Co-ordinator, told Metro.co.uk that the details should not have been released into the public domain.
Mr Grindell, who is now CEO and founder of Defuse, a threat and risk management consultancy, said: ‘They should never have been published.
‘They should have been redacted on the basis of security. Publication of any plans might compromise security and be advantageous to any adversary.’
The batch of documents related to a planning application to replace ‘life expired’ heavy duty doors at the service room.
They included the type, make and materials used for locks, with the pictures showing other features including a security light and upper level.
The location is said to provide ‘essential support functions to Buckingham Palace’ and to ‘house key Palace services that need to be kept secure and protected from the elements’. Confidential site photographs marked ‘Royal Household – Property Section’ featured pictures of the area, said to provide ‘security and separation’, and an outdoor yard at basement level.
The access point has a ‘high amount of vehicular and pedestrian activity’ according to architects commissioned by the household.
One of the files shared by the council before being removed was a heritage statement. The local authority has previously refused to release such documents on the grounds of national security.
One ruling in November 2022 stated: ‘Disclosure would prejudice, or would be likely to prejudice, international relations, defence, national security or public safety. Buckingham Palace is the residence of senior members of the Royal Family, disclosure of the requested information would adversely affect national security and the safety of the public.’
A spokesperson for the council said today: ‘The council takes this matter very seriously and is investigating to ensure sensitive or confidential information is not available on the website.’
The palace is understood to view the release of planning documents onto the portal as the responsibility of the council.
Security incidents at royal residences have included a masked intruder who went to Windsor Castle armed with a crossbow and told a protection officer: ‘I am here to kill the Queen.’
Jaswant Singh Chail pleaded guilty to a charge under the Treason Act in February after being arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle on Christmas Day 2021. Chail, 21, from North Baddesley, near Southampton, is due to be sentenced at a later date.
Last Easter, an intruder reportedly spent the night at a barracks with Royal Guardsmen whose role was to protect the late Queen at Windsor Castle. The monarch was at Sandringham at the time of the incident, said to have involved the man pretending to be a priest.
In July 2019, another intruder was said to have broken into Buckingham Palace while she slept in her bedroom. The 22-year-old man was heard banging on doors to get inside the residence after scaling a fence.
Police on site took around four minutes to detain him as they tried to assess if he was armed, sources said at the time.
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