Not All Survived: A History of Attempts on Members of the British Royal Family
'04.06.2020'
Source: Juice Media
We recall who from the ruling house of the Windsorov (repeatedly) managed to face death. Some in this battle could not survive, writes Juice Media.
The royal family of Great Britain is one of the most famous in the world. Despite the fact that monarchs actually “reign”, and do not rule the state, they still remain targets for attackers. Recall the most high-profile assassinations that occurred with representatives of the ruling Windsor dynasty.
The Lithgous Conspiracy (1970)
This was one of the first cases of an attempt on the Queen of Great Britain and the Duke of Edinburgh. Then the attackers planted a large log on the rails, wanting to adjust the catastrophe. It was this dear Her Majesty who was supposed to return from the capital of Australia to Orange. The Queen’s visit to Sydney was official.
Attackers are well planned attackers. They calculated the speed of the train on this section of the railway, so that after a collision with a log he got off the flights. But the offenders did not foresee that the driver could suddenly slow down and have time to notice an obstacle in time. Thanks to his reaction, collisions with the log were not even noticed. As a result, no one was hurt.
Attempted Abduction of the Princess (1974)
A very unusual situation occurred with the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth. Princess Anna, along with Mark Phillips, was driving home in a car when a Ford Escort popped up in front of her limousine. The royal motorcade stopped at the palace literally 200 yards away. A man jumped out of the car and started shooting. He wounded the guard of the princess and the driver, and Anna herself was forced to get out of the car. The criminal planned to kidnap the royal person in order to demand a ransom of £ 2 million. The police and the journalist who followed the motorcade arrived in time for the sounds of shooting. They were also injured.
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An accidental passerby, who turned out to be a boxer, managed to stop the criminal. A police patrol detained the attacker, who was sent to reinforcements at the request of a wounded policeman. It later turned out that the criminal was called Jan Ball. He was recognized as mentally ill and sent for treatment to a psychiatric hospital intended for the most dangerous criminals.
The assassination of the lord (1979)
The great-grandson of Queen Victoria, Lord Louis Mountbatten, is the only member of the ruling dynasty's family who has been the victim of criminals. The uncle of Prince Philip was killed by representatives of a terrorist organization called IRA in 1979. They planted explosives in Mountbatten's yacht and blew it up with a radio-controlled device when the lord and his family went to sea. Together with 79-year-old Louis, his grandson Nicholas, his daughter-in-law's mother-in-law, and a guy who worked on a yacht were killed. Nicholas's twin brother was seriously injured. The boys' parents were also injured.
The police managed to detain the culprit of the tragedy. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the demoman was released after 19 years. His release was the result of negotiations between the governments of Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Parade Shot (1981)
Queen Elizabeth II was assassinated right during the parade on the day of the traditional Trooping the Color ceremony, which is considered a national holiday in Great Britain. Then Her Majesty rode a horse at the head of the procession. Suddenly a shot rang out. The attacker missed, but pretty scared the queen and horse. Elizabeth managed to cope with emotions and continued the parade. The shooter turned out to be a 17-year-old guy named Marcus Sergeant, who wanted to become famous in this way.
In the same year, the Queen had a second similar case when she, together with the Duke of Edinburgh, paid an official visit to New Zealand. Then the monarch at the parade was shot by 17-year-old Christopher Lewis. The authorities of New Zealand decided to hide the incident and explained the sound of a shot by a fallen sign. Only in 2018 did they recognize that it was an attempt.
Attempts on the Prince (1981, 1994, 2015)
Several Charles had to survive several assassination attempts. The incident in 1981 could lead to serious consequences: then a letter filled with explosives was sent to the heir to the throne by mail. Charles was lucky - the envelope never reached him. Suspicious sending was weeded out at the stage of sorting letters in the post office and transferred to the police. Who sent the terrible message, did not find out.
In 1994, the 24-year-old David Kang shot at Charles in Australia. Intelligence officers immediately detained him. Later it turned out that the cartridges were single. Kang's actions were more like hooliganism than a real assassination attempt. In court, David explained that in this way he tried to draw the king’s attention to the problems of refugees in Australia. The guy was sentenced to 500 hours of correctional labor. He is now a successful lawyer and lives in Sydney.
Video of Charles’s reaction to the assassination:
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In 2015, British intelligence officers managed to prevent a series of terrorist attacks in London. One of them was planned for August 14th. At the parade in honor of the Victory over Japan, Prince Charles was to be present along with the Duchess Camilla. Fortunately, nothing happened.
Guard and Her Majesty
There have been many attempts to assassinate the queen. One of the most memorable was the incident that occurred in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace. Elizabeth was tormented by insomnia at night, and she decided to take a walk through the infield. The guard, seeing a dark silhouette, shouted: “Wait, I will shoot!” Running closer, he saw the queen and was terribly afraid. Elizabeth was not taken aback and said that next time she would warn the guard when she wanted to walk at night.
About the case in the Queen’s bedroom, which occurred in 1982, there are legends in the palace. Then Michael Fagan managed to quietly get into the royal chambers. But he did not have a goal to harm Her Majesty. The man just wanted to talk. It is not known how long their conversation would have lasted had Fagan not wanted to smoke. The queen called the footman to bring cigarettes. He also called the guard.
