A man has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after crashing his car into the gates outside Buckingham Palace.
The crash at the royal residence in central London took place at around 2.35am on Saturday morning.
The man was apprehended at the scene by armed officers and taken to hospital, the Metropolitan Police said.
Following an assessment, he was sectioned under the mental health act.
He has since been released on bail.
Image: Scaffolding remained in place on Sunday. Pic: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire
There were no reports of any injuries and inquiries into what happened are ongoing, the police said.
“The matter is not being treated as terror-related,” they added.
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Sir Winston Churchill, Buckingham Palace and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) are all commemorated in new coins unveiled by the Royal Mint for 2024.
They are among five new designs celebrating key events and anniversaries, which also include tributes to the National Gallery, Team GB and ParalympicsGB as they head for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.
Buckingham Palace features on a new £5 coin, while the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Winston and the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery feature on £2 coins.
New 50p coins will mark the 200th anniversary of the RNLI, Team GB and ParalympicsGB.
“As we approach the New Year, we are excited to reveal five new designs set to appear on commemorative coins in 2024, celebrating some of the most significant moments and anniversaries set to take place,” said Rebecca Morgan, director of commemorative coins at the Royal Mint.
“The Royal Mint has been regularly issuing annual sets since 1971 and they have become highly collectable as works of art. They are also gifted to people celebrating special occasions in the upcoming year, as they serve as a keepsake of that memorable time.”
The five designs for 2024
Designed by artist Henry Gray, the Buckingham Palace £5 coin features the architecture of the royal residence in London front and centre of the image.
The £2 coin commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Winston Churchill depicts a portrait of the former prime minister as a young man in 1895, in the uniform of the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars. “Pave the way for peace and freedom,” is the edge inscription, taken from a remark he made in late 1953 while serving his second term leading the country. The design appearing on the coin was created by Natasha Seaward, a graphic designer at the Royal Mint.
The National Gallery coin was created by designer, engraver and printmaker Edwina Ellis, featuring the famous art museum’s image at the centre.
Designed by art director Charis Tsevis, the first of two new 50ps depicts two athletes representing both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in parity. The Royal Mint said it produced the coin to celebrate and wish Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes the best of luck at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has been saving lives at sea since 1824. As the charity approaches its milestone 200th anniversary, the new UK 50p marks the moment. The design was created by coin designer John Bergdahl, and displays the RNLI flag surrounded by a life ring highlighting the 200 years of service.
A man has handcuffed himself to the gates of Buckingham Palace and threatened to harm himself.
Police said the man, believed to be in his 30s, approached the gates at around 5.23pm.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said officers were trying to speak to him to “bring the situation to a swift conclusion to ensure his safety and welfare”.
The London Ambulance Service is also at the scene.
Video shows the man, who was wearing a cap and sunglasses, with his left hand attached to the gates as officers speak to him from a distance.
In May, a man was also arrested after approaching the gates and allegedly throwing shotgun cartridges into the grounds.
He was later detained under the Mental Health Act.
The King will make his first overseas visits as monarch to France and Germany at the end of March.
Buckingham Palace has confirmed the King and Queen Consort will travel to Paris before visiting Berlin and Hamburg on their six-day trip starting on 26 March.
The King will address the Bundestag in Berlin, making him the first British monarch to make a speech in the German parliament.
The Queen Consort and King will be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The choice of European countries for the King’s first state visits is significant and has likely been organised to help restore frayed relations since Brexit.
It’s been confirmed that the pair will attend a state banquet at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
Queen’s astonishing example
Mr Macron spoke of the Queen’s affection for France when he attended her state funeral in September.
The Queen made many trips to France throughout her reign. Her first was in 1957, four years after her coronation. Her last state visit was in June 2014, when she visited Paris and Normandy with the Duke of Edinburgh.
The couple attended events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
In 60 years, the Queen undertook 261 official overseas visits, including 78 state visits, to 116 different countries.
The Queen was warmly regarded in Germany, which she visited on a number of occasions. Perhaps most famously in 1965, a state visit which many considered a watershed moment in British-German reconciliations after the Second World War.
Her last trip to Germany was in 2015 when she visited the site of the former Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen.
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Widely expected trip follows controversy
The King’s upcoming state visits had been widely reported in both France and Germany, but have only now been confirmed by Buckingham Palace.
The news comes just days after the King met the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at Windsor Castle.
Image: King Charles meets Ursula von der Leyen
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5:30
PM ‘naïve’ to involve the King
The meeting, which took place hours after a new Brexit deal on Northern Ireland was agreed, caused some controversy. Critics said it was constitutionally ill-judged and placed the King too close to politics.
The Queen Consort has tested positive for COVID-19 after suffering from cold symptoms, Buckingham Palace has said.
“After suffering the symptoms of a cold, Her Majesty The Queen Consort has tested positive for the COVID virus,” the statement said.
“With regret, she has therefore cancelled all her public engagements for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due to attend them.”
Earlier, the palace said Camilla, 75, had been forced to postpone a visit to the West Midlands on Tuesday after contracting a “seasonal” illness.
She was set to carry out several engagements across the region, including celebrating the centenary of Elmhurst Ballet School in Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Camilla was also set to visit the Southwater One Library in Telford to thank staff and representatives from outreach and voluntary groups for their contribution to the community.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said it was hoped a new date could be found soon for the postponed events.
The King and Queen were due to host a Clarence House reception on Wednesday for authors and members of literacy charities to celebrate the second anniversary of her online book club The Reading Room.
The following day Charles and Camilla were scheduled to attend a reception in Milton Keynes to celebrate the metropolis being awarded city status as part of the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
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Image: King Charles III and the Queen Consort during a visit to Brick Lane in east London
The Queen Consort contracted COVID early last year and was forced to cancel her appearance at several events.
The Princess Royal deputised for Camilla at the Cheltenham Festival last March, as she was pacing herself after recovering from the virus. She also missed a Commonwealth event.
The Queen Consort has had a busy diary of engagements across the UK in recent weeks including travelling as far as Aberdeen and the Welsh town of Wrexham for events.
Last Thursday, she visited Storm Family Centre in Battersea, south London, a charity supporting domestic abuse survivors in the area.
In an impromptu brief speech at the engagement, she said she felt “very privileged and honoured” to have visited the centre.
The previous day, Camilla and her husband King Charles visited London’s Brick Lane where they met members of the city’s Bangladeshi community.
The couple even received a takeaway to bring home from a south Asian restaurant.
The Queen Consort has appointed the women who will support her as she carries out her official and state duties.
Camilla, 75, will have six Queen’s companions, not traditional ladies-in-waiting, in addition to her private secretary and deputy private secretary, Buckingham Palace has said.
They are her friends:
• Sarah Troughton • Jane von Westenholz, mother of the woman who introduced Prince Harry to his future wife Meghan Markle • Fiona, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, an interior designer • Lady Katharine Brooke • Baroness Carlyn Chisholm, a non-affiliated peer • Lady Sarah Keswick, whose husband, Sir Chips Keswick, retired as Arsenal chairman in 2020 after spending 15 years on the board at the north London football club, according to Tatler
It is believed their duties will be similar to those carried out by the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting.
Some of the ladies will appear publicly with Camilla for the first time at a Violence Against Women and Girls reception on Tuesday at the palace.
There is still a role for the ladies-in-waiting who worked for the Queen: Lady Susan Hussey, Mary Morrison and Dame Annabel Whitehead will now be known as ladies of the household.
They will continue to assist the King in hosting formal occasions at Buckingham Palace.
Camilla has also appointed her equerry – Major Ollie Plunket, of The Rifles, who will look after her diary and accompany her at official events.
The streets of London were packed with thousands of mourners who turned out to watch as the Queen’s coffin was taken to Westminster Hall in a procession led by the King, his siblings and his sons.
The carriage carrying the Queen’s oak coffin left Buckingham Palace at 2.22pm.
Union flags waved above the crowds, who were packed in behind temporary barriers.
The procession was just over a mile long and took in two of London’s most famous thoroughfares, The Mall and Whitehall.
Some people could be seen wiping away tears as the Queen’s coffin made its way along the route.
Royals join procession ahead of lying in state – live updates
Image: The coffin, draped in the Royal Standard and bearing the Imperial State Crown, was carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage
Image: Silence fell among the crowd as a muffled drum draped in black was beaten at 75 paces a minute
Image: The King walked behind his mother’s coffin with the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. The Prince of Wales and Prince Harry followed behind
Image: The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex walk side by side
Image: Police officers stand guard as people waited patiently ahead of the procession
Image: The royals moved in time to the imposing funeral marches, in step with one another and the troops
Image: Members of the Household Cavalry escort the Queen’s coffin
Image: In sunshine, the coffin approached Westminster Hall
Image: The Bearer Party from Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, carries the coffin into Westminster Hall
Image: The Princess of Wales and the Countess of Wessex during the service in Westminster Hall
