An investigation is underway following an attempted break-in at a farm on the Windsor Castle property, which reportedly took place while Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton were nearby.
According to multiple outlets, two men scaled a six-foot fence on the night of October 13 and used a stolen truck to crash through a security gate at Shaw Farm, one of the working farms on the Windsor Castle grounds. The now-destroyed gate is frequently used by William and Kate, as it is the closest to their Adelaide Cottage residence.
The couple are believed to have been home with their children — Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6 — at the time of the incident. King Charles III and Queen Camilla, meanwhile, were away traveling in Scotland and India, respectively.
“At around 11.45pm on Sunday October 13, we received a report of burglary at a property on Crown Estate land near to the A308 in Windsor. Offenders entered a farm building and made off with a black Isuzu pick-up and a red quad bike. They then made off towards the Old Windsor/Datchet area,” a spokesperson from the Thames Valley Police, responsible for security in the area, told People.
Per the spokesperson, “No arrests have been made at this stage and an investigation is ongoing.”
The Sun previously reported that armed police were removed from the two public entrances of Windsor Castle. An alarm may have been triggered during the burglary, but the clearest sign of trouble was the smashed security gate.
William and Kate, both 42, relocated to Adelaide Cottage in 2022. A source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time that the family of five were looking forward to getting away from the business of Kensington Palace.
“The whole family [is] extremely excited to be moving to Windsor, not just because it will bring them closer to [Queen Elizabeth II] but it’s a perfect happy medium that brings them closer to London than if they chose to settle full time in Berkshire or Amner Hall,” the insider revealed.
The arrangement provided the best of both worlds for the royal couple. “They’ll still get to enjoy those locations, of course, but by being in Windsor they’re only 20 miles from Central London and Buckingham Palace and it’s a beautiful environment that’s steeped in history and such a special location to call home,” the source told Us.
William and Kate’s kids could also enjoy more of the fresh air. “Charlotte can go horse riding in the open air and George can play football on extensive grounds,” a second source revealed, noting that the children were “really excited” about their new school in Berkshire, less than 10 miles from the cottage.