Windsor Intruder Faces Treason Charge

A man who police said brought a crossbow onto the grounds of Windsor Castle faces the usual sort of charge one might in another location, such as making threats to kill someone and possession of an offensive weapon. But because the castle is home to a monarch, Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Jaswant Singh Chail also has been charged with treason, the BBC reports. Police said the 20-year-old was arrested almost immediately after stepping onto the grounds last Christmas Day and did not go in any buildings. The queen usually spends the holidays at her Sandringham estate in Norfolk but stayed at Windsor because of the pandemic. Family members visited her there.

Scotland Yard said the Southampton man was charged under the Treason Act of 1842, which makes the intent "to injure or alarm her Majesty" a crime. Chail is due in court Aug. 17. In 1982, an intruder climbed a wall and entered Buckingham Palace, eventually walking into the queen's bedroom, where he was seized. Elizabeth was in bed at the time. A lengthened version of their interaction was included in Season 4 of Netflix's The Crown, per Newsweek. (More Windsor Castle stories.)