A U.K. police bomb squad was rushed to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Queen Elizabeth II's official residence in Edinburgh, Scotland, to investigate a report of a suspicious item and later arrested a man suspected of being connected to the incident.
No one was harmed and neither the monarch nor other members of her royal family were living at the property at the time. The queen typically stays there for about one week during the summer, during which she attends several events celebrating Scottish culture and history.
"We were called to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Abbey Strand, Edinburgh, around 8:50 p.m. on Tuesday, 23 March, following a report of a suspicious item. Following examination by Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), it was made safe," a Police Scotland spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News. "A 39-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident. There was no threat to the public and enquiries are ongoing into the full circumstances."
The identity of the suspect and details of his location at the time of his arrest were not made public.
The queen, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip, who recently left a medical center after a 28-day hospitalization, have been living at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England for over a year. They moved from their main residence of Buckingham Palace in London in March 2020 at the start of coronavirus pandemic.
This is not the first time there has been a security incident at one of the queen's residences. Over the years, several people, men and women, have been arrested for trespassing or attempting to trespass on the queen's property.
In 1982, an intruder named Michael Fagan famously scaled a wall of Buckingham Palace, climbed through a window and entered a room where the monarch was in bed. A fictionalized version of the incident was depicted on the recent fourth season of The Crown.