A teenage boy who broke into Buckingham Palace to steal the Queen’s underwear is recognized as the world’s first celebrity stalker.
Between 1838 and 1841, Edward “The Boy” Jones (UK) managed to sneak his way into Buckingham Palace by disguising himself as a chimney sweep.
He was just 14 years old when he first made his way inside Queen Victoria’s royal residence in London.
Jones is said to have stalked the Queen, who reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901.
He spied on her while she was undressing for the night and even stole some of her underwear.
He was first caught in the act in 1838 when he was spotted by a porter in the Marble Hall.
Jones was chased down by police, who found him with several pairs of the Queen’s underwear stuffed down his trousers.
He was brought before the court in December of that year, when it came out that he’d mentioned his intentions to break into the palace to his employer, a builder, on more than one occasion.
Despite his knicker theft, and also stealing a portrait of the Queen, a letter and a collection of linens, he was acquitted by the jury.
The Queen was staying at Windsor Castle that night.
Writer Jan Bondeson looked into the peculiar tale in depth for his book Queen Victoria’s Stalker: The Strange Story of the Boy Jones.
He wrote of his first break-in: “Somehow…the boy had made it into the palace, strolling through the staterooms, corridors, and bedrooms like if they had belonged to him.”
Two years later, on 30 November 1840, Jones scaled the wall surrounding Buckingham Palace and made his way inside once more.
This was just nine days after the birth of the Queen and Prince Albert’s first child, Princess Victoria.
He managed to leave undetected.
The following day, on 1 December 1840, the Queen’s governess and companion Baroness Louise Lehzen found Jones underneath a sofa in the Queen’s dressing room shortly after midnight.
She called for help and he was arrested.
Jones’s father tried to plead insanity as a defence but was unsuccessful.
The teenager was sentenced to three months in a house of correction, an establishment created thanks to the passing of the Elizabethan Poor Law (1601).
It was a sort of workhouse where people seen as vagrants and beggars would be sent and put to work.
After his release, The Boy was discovered on the grounds of the palace yet again on 15 March 1841.
He didn’t get off so lightly this time and was sentenced to three months’ hard labour. His break-in also caused uproar, with an additional three guards then being appointed to watch the palace.
But that didn’t stop him from trying again.
After his second release, he was caught loitering around the palace.
This time, he was sent to do duty in the Navy, and while docked in Portsmouth, took the opportunity to walk 70 mi (112.6 km) to London. It seems he just couldn’t resist!
He was caught before he reached the palace and sent back to his ship.
During his sneaky explorations of Buckingham Palace, The Boy is said to have even hidden underneath tables to eavesdrop on conversations between the Queen and her ministers.
In later life, it’s said Jones became an alcoholic and a burglar before moving to Australia and trying to reinvent himself.
He became the town crier of Perth and adopted the name Thomas Jones in the 1880s in an apparent bid to leave his past behind him.
Jones died on Boxing Day 1893 in Bairnsdale, Australia, after falling from the Mitchell River bridge while he was drunk and landing on his head.
He’s buried in Bairnsdale Cemetery in an unmarked grave, although there is a memorial plaque for him at the city’s East Gippsland Historical Society, which wrongly states he breached Windsor Castle.
The bizarre story has cropped up a few times in popular culture.
It inspired 1943 children’s book The Boy Jones by Joan Howard and 1949 novel The Mudlark by Theodore Bonnet, which was adapted into a film of the same name in 1950.
Jones’s story also featured as a brief storyline in ITV period drama Victoria.
If you liked this story, you should check out our Curious Casebook episode dedicated to the first celebrity stalker.
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