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Princess Anne once escaped a gunman who attempted to kidnap her. 'Not bloody likely,' she told him.

Jun 28, 2023, 23:20 IST
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Princess Anne was once almost kidnapped by a lone gunman. Four men were injured and the princess narrowly got away.Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images; Hulton Archive/Getty Images
  • In 1974, four months after her wedding, Princess Anne was almost kidnapped by a lone gunman.
  • The man attacked her royal limousine while it was just 200 yards from Buckingham Palace.
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She might be a royal, but Princess Anne is no damsel in distress.

On March 20, 1974, just four months after Anne's televised wedding to commoner Captain Mark Phillips, the princess was involved in a would-be kidnapping and attack outside Buckingham Palace that left four people injured.

After attending a theater performance that night, Anne's Rolls-Royce limousine — which held the 23-year-old princess, her husband, a chauffeur, a lady's maid, and her private security guard — was attacked by Ian Ball, a 26-year-old unemployed labor worker.

Ball's car cut off the royal limousine as it drove down the Mall toward Buckingham Palace

The site of the foiled kidnapping.Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Thinking Ball was a disgruntled driver, security officer James Wallace Beaton exited the front passenger seat and approached Ball, who then shot him in the right shoulder, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Beaton tried to return fire but missed Ball due to his injury, and his gun jammed. Ball then attempted to get Anne out of the vehicle through the driver's side, while Anne's lady-in-waiting crawled out through the passenger-side door. Beaton got back into the car and placed himself between the gunman and the royal couple, who were desperately attempting to hold the door shut.

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Ball shot Beaton through the car, forcing him onto the ground. When the driver, Alexander Callender, tried to stop the gunman, he was shot in the chest. The gunman opened the back door, grabbed Anne's forearm, and tried to pull her out.

"Please, come out," Ball said to Anne, according to Smithsonian Magazine. "You've got to come."

'Not bloody likely,' Anne told the gunman as her husband held on to her

Princess Anne visiting her bodyguard, James Beaton, at Westminster Hospital after the foiled kidnapping.Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

More shots were fired, including at the first police officer to arrive on the scene and a Daily Mail journalist who tried to disarm the gunman.

It was Ronald Russell — a 26-year-old former boxer and company cleaning executive who was driving home from work when he saw the commotion on the side of the road — who was able to subdue the attacker by hitting him in the face and tackling him to the ground.

"I was scrupulously polite because I thought it was silly to be too rude at that stage," Anne later said of the attack, which lasted roughly 10 minutes. "The back of my dress split and that was his most dangerous moment. I lost my rag at that stage."

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As more police officers arrived on the scene, Anne, seeing that the gunman was getting nervous, told him, "Go on, now's your chance."

Ball took off running but was apprehended by a nearby police officer

Ian Ball is led into court in March 1974.Getty Images

After a search of Ball's car, police said they found a note that indicated he planned to hold the princess at ransom for £2 million. According to Smithsonian Magazine, authorities also discovered Ball had rented a home in Hampshire that was located just 5 miles from Sandhurst Military Academy, the home of Princess Anne and Captain Phillips.

In total, four people were injured — Anne's security guard, her driver, the first police officer to arrive, and the journalist — but all survived.

The heroic passerby, Ronald Russell, was awarded the George Medal, the highest civilian award for gallantry by Queen Elizabeth

The Queen and Princess Anne with the seven men involved in saving the princess on the night of the kidnapping.PA Images/Getty Images

"The medal is from the Queen, but I want to thank you as Anne's mother," the Queen told him at the official ceremony in November 1974.

According to People, Russell said the Queen also paid off his mortgage as a gesture of gratitude after the attack.

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"I thought that was wonderful," he told The Mirror in 2020. "I was actually close to repossession at the time. They were going to repossess my home. So, I dug myself out of that one."

He also later sold the medal at auction for $59,270, according to People.

Ian Ball, who later said he was sorry for scaring Princess Anne, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping charges. He is now serving a life sentence in a mental-health facility.

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