A Queen’s Silversmith Stalker
Security at Buckingham Palace was inept and inefficient, with no single person in overall charge of safeguarding the royal palaces. Buckingham, for example, had low walls topped with tree branches, and lax guards. As a result, drunks and the homeless were often found asleep in the garden, propped up against the inner wall or laid out beneath the trees. Less innocent interlopers, such as many a stalker, faced little difficulty as they progressed past the garden and into the royal palace. An invitation to Buckingham to formally see Queen Victoria was a big deal and a great honor, coveted by many. On the other hand, to just get into Buckingham Palace and see the queen, informally and without invitation, was a cinch.
Drunks frequently staggered onto the palace grounds to sleep off a bender in the royal garden. Others, with more sinister and creepy intentions, found it easy to reach the palace itself. Such was the case with silversmith Thomas Flower, one of Victoria’s persistent admirers, who was found asleep in a chair near the queen’s bedroom in the summer of 1838. An admirer who turned stalker, Flower had managed to get into the palace, then wandered around for hours as he tried to find the queen – Buckingham Palace was and remains a big building. Finally, after he tired of the search, he fell asleep. He was arrested and imprisoned, until friends bailed him out for £50.