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A SHOCKING royal security scandal has been exposed by a Mirror reporter working secretly as a footman.

Ryan Parry infiltrated the heart of Buckingham Palace for two months as police and senior staff prepared for the state visit of George Bush.

Parry, who used bogus references to get the job, was still in the Palace lastnight as Mr Bush arrived. He watched unchallenged as the president and his wife Laura were met by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in the Palace garden at around 8pm...

He had a full view from a pitch by the state dining room through a net curtain. Had he been a terrorist hell bent on assassinating the royals or Mr Bush, nothing could have stopped him.

The security scandal will send shock waves across the world. Our investigation exposes the serious flaws in the £10million security operation to protect Mr Bush.

Our probe began less than two months after police vowed royal security had been tightened following “comedy terrorist” Aaron Barscak’s gatecrashing of Prince William’s 21st birthday at Windsor Castle.

But it was the ease with which Parry, 26, got the job that is so shocking. His credentials were never properly checked, although a simple search on the internet would have shown his name and picture next to another Mirror investigation he carried out last summer into security at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

Parry, who infiltrated the Palace two months ago, would have served breakfast today to the president’s chief aides, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and US Secretary of State Colin Powell...</font>