Fake bomb probe at wedding castle
 |  "It was all absurdly easy," Sun reporter Alex Peake wrote. |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 Wedding memorabilia with wrong wedding date selling briskly.
 People Magazine's Simon Perry on the wedding postponement.
|
|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's most senior policeman has ordered an inquiry into how a journalist drove a fake "bomb" into the heart of Windsor Castle where heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles will have his marriage blessed this weekend.
A tabloid newspaper claimed Thursday that using false paperwork, one of its reporters managed to drive a van past security guards to within yards of Queen Elizabeth II's private apartments.
In the back of the vehicle, the Sun claims to have carried a brown box marked "bomb."
The royal standard was flying over the castle at the time of the breach, which confirmed that the queen was in residence.
This latest security breach came days before Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles marry at Windsor Guildhall, with a ceremony at the nearby castle 32 kilometers (20 miles) west of London Saturday.
The white "Thrifty van rental" vehicle drove alongside St. George's Chapel, which is inside the castle walls, where the entire royal family and Prime Minister Tony Blair will gather to witness the royal wedding being blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
"This apparent breach of security at Windsor Castle in the run-up to the royal wedding properly raises serious concern," a police spokeswoman said in a statement Thursday.
"It is only right that the facts are established before any action is taken against any police personnel who may be culpable."
London police chief Ian Blair, who said in February that the wedding was a potential terrorist target, has ordered an "immediate inquiry," the statement added.
The Sun newspaper said their reporter posed as a delivery driver to convince police to let him and a photographer past a barrier at the 900-year-old castle's King Henry VIII gate.
"It was all absurdly easy," reporter Alex Peake wrote in the newspaper's Thursday edition.
"It took just a hired van, two pairs of workmen's overalls and a bogus delivery note."
This is the latest in a string of security embarrassments for the British police guarding the royal family.
Earlier this week, two Polish tourists were caught near the queen's private quarters after scaling a fence. Two years ago, a comedian dressed as Osama bin Laden gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor, managing to get right next to the prince.
Last year, a campaign group climbed onto a ledge next to the main balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Charles' wedding plans have been dogged by hitches since he announced in February he was to marry the woman blamed by many Britons for destroying his marriage to his first wife, the late Princess Diana.
Their wedding venue was switched following a mixup over marriage licences and then had to be rescheduled from Friday to avoid a clash with the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
Some constitutional experts have even questioned the legality of the pair marrying in a civil ceremony.
And a leading British republican group, galvanized by popular unease at the wedding, has launched a campaign to abolish the British monarchy.
"This marriage is making the case for us," Stephen Haseler, head of the pressure group Republic which believes the time is right to put an end to the House of Windsor, told Reuters. (Full story)
CNN Assignment Editor Roger Clark contributed to this report
