British police said Saturday they have arrested a man who entered the grounds of Windsor Castle;
Queen Elizabeth is spending Christmas, and she has detained him on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon.
Thames Valley Police said - in a statement - that the suspect is 19 years old, from Southampton in southern England, and confirmed that he did not enter any buildings and that security operations were launched within moments of entering the castle grounds.
The Queen, 95, spent a lot of time during the Covid-19 pandemic at Windsor Castle, where she celebrated Christmas with her son Prince Charles, his wife Camilla and other close family members.
"The man has been arrested on suspicion of hacking or trespassing a protected site and possessing an offensive weapon," Thames Valley Police Chief Rebecca Mears said.
She added that members of the royal family had been informed of the incident and that the police did not believe there was a significant danger to the public.
Security breaches of royal residences are rare.
The most dangerous of these occurred during the Queen's reign in 1982 when a man scaled a wall and entered Buckingham Palace, the Queen's residence in London, and reached the room she was sleeping in.
sexy sparkle
Britain's Queen Elizabeth spoke today about the departure of her husband, Prince Philip, remembering the "exciting sparkle" in his eyes, with an unusual personal message to the people at Christmas.
The Queen said that Christmas is a time of happiness for many people, but it can be a difficult time for those who have lost loved ones, and that she felt it especially this year in which she lost Prince Philip, 99, in April after a marriage that lasted 73 years.
"His sense of duty, his intellectual curiosity, his ability to derive joy from any situation, all cannot be forgotten," she said in her radio message, saluting "My Beloved Philip."
Prince Philip, officially known as the Duke of Edinburgh, died on April 9, at the age of 99.
In 1997, the Queen described Philip as the source of her "strength and support" throughout their decades-long marriage.
Although he did not play an official role, Prince Philip has been one of the most influential figures in the royal family for more than 70 years, and his marriage to Queen Elizabeth lasted 73 years.
Philip - who married Elizabeth in 1947 - helped the young queen adapt the monarchy to the changing world of the post-World War II era, in the face of the challenges faced by the world's most prominent royal family after the loss of the empire and the decline of its position.