Police mistook Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, for an intruder as he was taking a stroll in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on Wednesday evening.
Two uniformed officers spotted Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, and approached him “to verify his identity,” the Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement, according to CNN. “The man was satisfactorily identified.”
“The police have a difficult job to do balancing security for the royal family and deterring intruders and sometimes they get it wrong,” Prince Andrew said in a statement. “I am grateful for their apology and look forward to a safe walk in the gardens in the future.”
Earlier British reports said police had their guns drawn on the prince, but authorities assured that that was not the case.
Buckingham Palace was already on high alert because of a security breach two days earlier when a man scaled a fence and entered the building before being detained, CNN reported. Authorities arrested the man for burglary, trespass and criminal damage.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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