Michael Trestrail

Commander Michael Trestrail was a senior Metropolitan Police officer who served for sixteen years as the personal police officer – effectively the bodyguard – to Queen Elizabeth II. In July 1982 he resigned after it emerged that he had had a long-standing relationship with a male sex worker. The disclosure was made public in the House of Commons by the Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, and was widely reported. A subsequent official inquiry cleared Trestrail of any breach of security, but concluded that the risks he had taken made it impossible for him to remain in his post.

The case is often discussed alongside the earlier John Vassall affair as an illustration of how, in the decades after the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, gay men in sensitive public roles remained vulnerable to exposure and blackmail.

Career

Trestrail was a career Metropolitan Police officer with around thirty years' service. He joined the royal household staff in the mid-1960s and had previously served as personal bodyguard to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, before being assigned to the Queen. By 1982 he held the rank of Commander and headed the force's Royalty Protection Department. A bachelor, he was subject to regular positive vetting, the most recent check having taken place only a few months before his resignation.

Resignation

On 9 July 1982, Michael Fagan, an unemployed labourer, broke into Buckingham Palace and reached the Queen's bedroom, where he remained for around ten minutes before help arrived. The intrusion – one of several lapses in palace security that year – led to intense public scrutiny of royal protection arrangements. Trestrail was not responsible for guarding the Queen while she was in residence and was later cleared of any blame for the Fagan breach, but the wider attention it drew contributed to the exposure of his private life.

Shortly afterwards, a male sex worker with whom Trestrail had had a continuing relationship approached a national newspaper, offering to sell his account for a reported £20,000. The newspaper did not publish the story, but the matter was passed to the police, who confronted Trestrail. He admitted the relationship and resigned on Saturday 17 July 1982.

On 19 July 1982, Whitelaw reported the resignation to the House of Commons, telling members that Trestrail had "confessed to having a homosexual relationship over a number of years" with a male prostitute and had resigned from the Metropolitan Police.

Security Commission inquiry

The government asked Lord Bridge, head of the Security Commission, to examine the security implications of the case. His report was presented to Parliament on 24 November 1982. It found that there had been "no breach of security" and that security had not been put at risk, and it specifically absolved Trestrail of responsibility for the Fagan intrusions. The report nonetheless concluded that the risks Trestrail had taken, and the indiscretions he had committed, cast serious doubt on his judgment and made it impossible for him to have continued as the Queen's police officer.

See also

• John Vassall
• Gay Police Association

External links

• Resignation of Commander Michael Trestrail, Queen's Police Officer – file description, The National Archives.
• PREM 19/916 – government papers on the Trestrail case, Margaret Thatcher Foundation.