Security blunders force huge shake-up in royal security

An extraordinary series of embarrassing blunders will lead to a massive shake- up in security around the Royal Family.

Scotland Yard came under fire after self-styled comedy terrorist Aaron Barschak breached security at Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle.

This was followed by an undercover reporter breaching checks to get a footman's job with close access to the Queen and the rest of the royals.

Now an official report ordered by Tony Blair, by top judge Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, has urged sweeping changes in the way the Queen and the royal family is protected.

The top-secret report says the Royal Household Personnel Department must draw on intelligence service databases to check the credentials of future employees.

A new specialised police unit at Buckingham Palace will coordinate checks and data from all the royal households. It will enable them to collate details of staff bank accounts, mortgages, credit ratings and lifestyles.

A senior Palace source said: "There will be legal changes - it was just too easy for someone to slip through the system.

"There are several households, for each member of the family. Prince Charles has a different personnel team to the Queen. This will be co-ordinated under one special unit, making all the checks."

Dame Elizabeth has spent the last four months investigating every aspect of the royal family's protection, with unfettered access to officials. Her draft report is currently in restricted circulation, with some of its conclusions due to be made public within weeks.

Her inquiry followed undercover Daily Mirror journalist Ryan Parry posing for two months as a footman, with access to the royals' personal apartments. He left the Palace minutes before US President George Bush arrived for his state visit.

The fiasco led to Home Secretary David Blunkett being hauled before MPs to explain the breach.

It turned out that the Palace's personnel officer, Catherine Jones, checked Mr Parry's background by phoning a pub in North Wales.

When pub staff said they could not remember Parry, a barmaid shouted to a regular who said, "I know him". This was accepted by

the Palace, which later defended its actions saying it "followed the accepted procedures" including verbal and written reference checks.

In Parry's case, police carried out a criminal record check and the intelligence services confirmed he had no terrorist links or international crime. Scotland Yard has never been responsible for checking the references of all royal employees.

Dame Elizabeth's report highlights the failure in the Palace's vetting procedure when making the reference checks. Most company personnel departments are limited by the Data Protection Act in the checks they can make.

Before Aaron Barschak, the most notorious intruder at the palace was Michael Fagan, who reached the Queen's bedroom undetected 23 years ago.

In January 1995 student John Gillard, 21, drove 200 miles from his Wakefield home to ram the palace gates at high speed with his car. In February 1994 naked American paraglider Jim Miller landed on the palace roof.

In the same month a burglar stole heirlooms from the private apartments of the Prince of Wales at St James's Palace.