A 59-year-old man, who approached the gates of Buckingham Palace and threw a number of items – suspected to be shotgun cartridges – into the Palace grounds, was quickly detained by police officers.
The incident happened at around 19:00hrs on Tuesday, May 2nd.
Buckingham Palace confirmed neither the King or his wife, the Queen Consort, were at the palace at the time of the incident, but the King had hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese there earlier on Tuesday.
The 59-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon after he was searched and a knife was found. He was not in possession of a firearm.
On Wednesday, May 3rd he was detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to hospital.
He will remain on bail whilst receiving medical care, the Metropolitan Police stated.
Cordons were in place after the man was also found to be in possession of a suspicious bag.
Specialists attended and following an assessment a controlled explosion was conducted as a precaution.
There were no reported injuries and the incident is not being treated as terror-related, the Metropolitan Police said.
(Source: Metropolitan Police)
