A GROUP of Travellers have moved on after setting up camp outside the Queen’s private quarters at Windsor Castle this week.

Up to 30 caravans and a number of cars and vans parked on the Long Walk, in full view of the monarch’s favourite royal residence.

On Tuesday night, police, park wardens and council officials were seen trying to persuade the group to move on.

One onlooker told Metro they were "absolutely stunned" at how they had parked their convoy on the royal estate, which is open to the public from dawn until dusk.

The Long Walk is a popular tourist attraction that connects Windsor Castle to Snow Hill in Windsor Great Park.

The dozen families moved a couple of miles away and stopped at a council recreation park on the edge of Windsor, where they are planning to remain until ordered to move on.

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The Queen is currently in residence at Windsor and yesterday the royal standard was flying at the castle.

One of the travellers, Caroline Smith, a 39-year-old mother of five, told The Telegraph: "We'll stay here as long as we can. All the permanent caravan sites are full. There's never been enough of them for us. But we'll leave this place as we found it, nice and tidy.

"We never planned to stay long outside Windsor Castle. We just stopped there for a break, to give the kids something to eat and the dogs some water. The police didn't have to do anything, they knew we'd soon be moving on."

The Long Walk is a popular tourist attraction that is still used by the royal carriages every year as part of the route from Windsor Castle to the Ascot races. Much of the 5000-acre estate is open to the public and free to enter.

Questions are being raised as to how the group, which included around a dozen families with young children, managed to drive onto the Long Walk, running through the Great Park to the gates of Windsor Castle, so easily.

The families managed to drive their vehicles onto the paved road of the Long Walk, evading the few low bollards bordering the grassland that is popular with walkers and runners.

Dai Davies, the former head of the Metropolitan Police's Royal Protection Squad, said: "The fact they managed to get onto the Long Walk without difficulty shows the naivety of those protecting the area. They should have anticipated this sort of thing.

"It's a potentially serious security issue. You can't have a group of people pitch up and congregate like this so close to a royal residence. It could have been anyone with threatening intentions."

The families had driven from Dartford, in Kent, and stopped on the Long Walk at around 6pm. While they were there, Prince Andrew drove past in his Range Rover but did not seem concerned about their presence.

After leaving at around 8pm, the group stopped at a park and playing fields in Hanover Way, in the Windsor suburb of Dedworth, apparently breaking locks to gain access.

A Windsor and Maidenhead Council spokesman said: "Welfare visits are being undertaken before any decisions are made on how to proceed. The situation will continue to be actively monitored to ensure that the impact on local residents and the environment is minimised."