Buckingham Palace Guards Still Don't Recognize Prince Andrew

Being a British royal must be a rough life, especially if you get mistaken for a trespassing intruder by some overzealous guards patrolling the Buckingham Palace grounds. That's what happened to Prince Andrew this week, the poor guy. 

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Being a British royal must be a rough life, especially if you get mistaken for a trespassing intruder by some overzealous guards patrolling the Buckingham Palace grounds. That's what happened to Prince Andrew this week, the poor guy.

He doesn't have the name recognition of the younger, snappier royal family members, but you would think Andrew's been around the palace long enough to know who he is. Well, apparently not. The Sunday Express reported Andrew went for a walk in the gardens on Wednesday evening when two guards approached the Queen's 53-year-old son with their guns drawn and demanding identification. Andrew was forced to the ground before he identified himself. "There is a high turnover of the police on duty at the Palace, but you’d think anyone would know what Prince Andrew looks like," a "royal insider" told the Express.

Unsurprisingly, the royal family member was reportedly livid for being mistaken as a commoner by the two palace guards. But cooler heads eventually prevailed on Sunday, when Prince Andrew announced he was "grateful" for the apology he received from Scotland Yard. "The police have a difficult job to do balancing security for the Royal Family and deterring intruders, and sometimes they get it wrong," he said.

See, the Buckingham Palace guards were already having a rough week. On Monday, a 30-year-old man scaled the palace fence and broke into one of the state rooms before tripping some motion sensors. When the guards finally found him, he was trying to break a window with a fire extinguisher to get out. He was arrested, and so was another man standing outside the palace who police believe was an accomplice. So things were a little tense this week.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.