Thieves have broken into Britain’s royal Windsor Castle estate while the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children were there, with the intruders crashing through a gate and making off with two vehicles.

The King and Queen were not there at the time but Prince William and his family were believed to be at Adelaide Cottage, inside the estate’s secure zone, The Sun newspaper reports.

The men used a stolen truck to break through a security gate at night and then scaled a two-metre fence, the paper said.

Local police were called to a report of a burglary on Crown Estate land in Windsor, west of London, just before midnight on October 13.

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“Offenders entered a farm building and made off with a black Isuzu pick-up and a red quad bike. They then made off towards the Old Windsor/Datchet area,” Thames Valley Police said.

“No arrests have been made at this stage and an investigation is ongoing.”

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

William and Kate were believed to be at Adelaide Cottage at the time of the robbery. Photo: AAP

“They must have been watching Windsor Castle for a while,” a source told the Sun.

Adelaide Cottage – where Kate and William live with children George, Charlotte and Louis – is just five minutes from Windsor Castle. The family is regularly seen using the wrecked gate at Shaw Farm, which is the nearest exit to their home.

“There are alarms at Windsor Castle but the first time anyone knew there was a break-in was when they crashed through the security barrier at Shaw Farm Gate exit,” the source said.

“The barrier has needed to be replaced as it was so badly damaged. It was a Sunday night on a school week so the young princes and princess would have been tucked [up] in bed at Adelaide Cottage, just around the corner but still in the grounds.”

Windsor Castle previously faced a security scare in 2021 when authorities arrested a man with a crossbow in the grounds of the castle. He said he had wanted to kill Queen Elizabeth.

– with AAP