Robert James Moore was simple American with a simple dream — to love and cherish Queen Elizabeth as providence intended. And when Queen Elizabeth wasn’t receptive to his amorous overtures, hundreds of “strange and offensive” packages containing tokens of his affection in the form of 600-page letters and obscene photographs, he simply wouldn’t take no for an answer, going to far as to move across the pond to be closer to her.
Very close, as it turns out.
Earlier this year, a British gardener has discovered the body of the man believed to have been stalking Queen Elizabeth for years on an tree-covered island in St. James Park, just outside the walls of Buckingham Palace. He’d been dead for about three years, according to a pathologist, and had been living on the island for some time before his death. He was found with a yellow cushion and some empty vodka bottles.
Officials are concerned that a man so evidently out-of-sorts was able to exist a few hundred feet from the Queen undetected for so long. The Telegraph reports,
Scotland Yard would not say if Mr Moore was known to the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, which was on high alert for lone obsessives ahead of this year’s Royal wedding in April.
A spokesman for The Royal Parks said: “The Royal Parks is saddened that this incident has occurred. The body was found in thick undergrowth on an island that is reserved for wildlife and that is not accessible to the public.
“This island is checked by Wildlife Officers three times a year, however work to prune trees and to inspect it closely is carried out every two years – it was during one of these inspections that the discovery was made. Going forward we are planning to carry out thorough inspections on a more regular basis.”
The island where Moore was found can only be accessed via boat or by swimming. Some speculate that he must have gotten there by stripping naked and proceeding with his clothes over his head to keep them dry, as this is apparently common practice for some homeless people who live in St. James Park.
Moore has no known relatives, and the coroner could not determine the cause of his death.
Royal Family’s Obsessive Body Lay Near Buckingham Palace for Years [Telegraph]
Image via AP