Did you hear this story? I’m sure you have, it’s been everywhere the past 24 hours. Apparently, Prince Andrew (HRH The Duke of York) was going for a quiet, leisurely walk in the gardens of Buckingham Palace and Scotland Yard thought he was an intruder. So they held him at gunpoint and made him get on the ground, all the while he was insisting “Um, you know I’m Prince Andrew, right?!”

Armed police pointed their guns at Prince Andrew and ordered him to “put your hands up and get on the ground” after mistaking him for an intruder in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

For a tense half a minute the Queen’s 53-year-old son was in danger of being shot dead by officers paid to protect him and his family. An internal inquiry is now being carried out into the extraordinary incident, which took place last Wednesday, after Scotland Yard confirmed Prince Andrew was mistaken for an intruder. Royal protection officers were said be “jittery” after a genuine intruder had been found in the Palace’s state rooms two days earlier. A suspected accomplice was also arrested in a street outside the Palace.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Express, a royal insider said: “Everyone is talking about these two incidents and can’t quite believe what has happened. “The fact that this guy was able to wander off unchallenged and not be spotted by anyone is bad enough. But then to mistake the Duke for another intruder is almost incomprehensible. There is a high turnover of the police on duty at the Palace, but you’d think anyone would know what Prince Andrew looks like. It’s fair to say that to describe the Duke as unhappy and the two officers as highly embarrassed is the biggest understatement of the century.”

Prince Andrew said this afternoon he is “grateful” that the police have now apologised.

He said in a statement: “The police have a difficult job to do balancing security for the Royal Family and deterring intruders, and sometimes they get it wrong. I am grateful for their apology and look forward to a safe walk in the garden in the future.”

On the evening the incident happened, Andrew had been in London to visit PopUp Piccadilly, a scheme to support new retail businesses. He had only just returned from a two-week holiday in Spain, with his former wife Sarah, the Duchess of York, and their daughters Bea and Eugenie.

The insider said: “He just went out into the gardens for a walk, to relax and enjoy the sunshine. It was only in the early evening and so was light. When he got to a far corner away from the Palace, he was suddenly pounced upon by an officer, and another was not far behind. They shouted all the usual, put your hands up and get on the ground, and both pointed their guns straight at him. He might have served in the Falklands war but I don’t care who you are, it must have been terrifying.

They added: “What no one can understand is why they didn’t recognise him, and there was a sort of Mexican stand-off for a few tense seconds, maybe half a minute. Eventually, after he insisted he was Prince Andrew, the penny finally dropped, and they put their guns away. From what we’ve all heard the Duke was absolutely livid and tore them off a strip. Whether they will be disciplined is another matter, but it can’t have done their careers much good… The general feeling is that the police are desperate to hush the whole thing up. It’s not been a good week for them.”

The Metropolitan Police today confirmed the Sunday Express story. A brief statement was issued this morning which said: “On Wednesday, 4 September at approximately 1800hrs two uniformed officers approached a man in the gardens of Buckingham Palace to verify his identity.”

It added simply: “The man was satisfactorily identified.”

[From The Express]

“The man was satisfactorily identified.” Got to love the Brits, the masters of dry understatement. Subtle shade. I also kind of love Andrew’s bitchy statement about the incident too – “I am grateful for their apology and look forward to a safe walk in the garden in the future.” Can you even imagine? Imagine that this had happened to a member of the First Family in America. Imagine a First Daughter held at gunpoint and told to get on the ground. Yikes. It would be incredibly embarrassing, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if a few people got fired over this mess.

Photos courtesy of WENN.