19 March 2024 , 16:18
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Princess Anne was just 23 when she was the victim of an attempted kidnapp.
It was 1974, the same year that United States President Richard Nixon resigned following the Watergate scandal. On March 20 of that year, Princess Anne narrowly escaped being held captive. Half a century later, the Mirror re-examines exactly what happened to Princess Anne on that day...
It was just like any other Wednesday evening - Princess Anne and her then husband Captain Mark Phillips were returning home from a charity event. But what happened next on their way back to Buckingham Palace was certainly out of the ordinary. Suddenly, a blue Ford Escort forced their car to come to an abrupt halt on The Mall as the driver jumped out and began firing shots.
Ian Ball (in centre) the 26 year old man who was charged with attempting to murder Princess Anne's bodyguard, Inspector James Wallace Beaton (PA)
Jim Beaton received the George Cross in 1974 for protecting Princess Anne (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)I an Ball shot Princess Anne's chauffeur and security officer as well as a press photographer who tried to intervene. He then told Anne he was planning to kidnap her in exchange for a £2 million ransom - which he intended to give to the National Health Service to fund mental health treatment, according to reports. The kidnapper tried to prise Princess Anne from the car but she refused to move, telling him “not bloody likely”.
The nightmare only came to an end when former heavyweight Ronnie Russell, 72, who just happened to be walking past, punched Ian Ball in the head. At the time he said: “As a 6ft 4in, ex-heavyweight boxer, I decided I was well-placed to defuse the situation. I wanted to prevent this fellow from getting into any more trouble. So I stopped my car and walked towards him."
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Anne talked about the terrifying moment in a documentary, ITV's Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, which was aired in 2020 saying she still remembers each moment "like photographs". "What is interesting is what you remember and how you remember it, because although I thought I remembered everything that happened I would never have been able to swear I could remember in the right order,” she said. “Because they were like photos, individual snapshots. Very clearly. Strangely I had thought it before that, 'what would you do if...'”
Ronnie Russell and partner Mandy from Bristol (Rowan Griffiths \\ Daily Mirror)Meanwhile, Ian Ball was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. While he apologized for the incident, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 41 years in Broadmoor, a high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire, where he is still detained under the Mental Health Act.
Ex boxer Ronnie Russell was awarded the George Medal by the Queen, who told him: “The medal is from the Queen, but I want to thank you as Anne’s mother.” Russell, who lives in Bristol, treasured the medal for years but has since sold it for £50,000 at auction as he is suffering from ill-health.
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