13. Queen Victoria’s Security Was Woefully Bad
The security provided Queen Victoria was also inept and inefficient, with no single person in overall charge of safeguarding the royal residences. Buckingham Palace, for example, had low walls topped with tree branches, and lax guards. As a result, drunks and the homeless were often found sleeping in the garden, propped up against the inner wall, or laid out beneath the trees. Less innocent interlopers, such as stalkers, faced little difficulty in progressing past the garden and into the royal palace.
An invitation to Buckingham Palace to formally see Queen Victoria was a big deal and a great honor, that was coveted by many. On the other hand, just getting into Buckingham Palace and seeing the queen, informally and without invitation, was a cinch. Staggering drunks had little trouble getting into the palace grounds to sleep off a bender in the royal garden. Others, with more sinister and creepy intentions, with crime on their minds, had little trouble reaching the palace itself.