The Crazed Kidnapping Attempt of Princess Anne

Anne, Princess Royal and sister of King Charles, has always had close ties to Britain’s security services. She is Colonel-in-Chief of the British Army’s Intelligence Corps having taken over from her father after his death in 2021.

Yet Anne is better known to a generation of Royal watchers for her bravery in the face of an attempted 1974 kidnapping in which four men were shot: her Royal Protection Officer, a police officer, her chauffeur, and a journalist who tried to intervene.

Young Princess Anne was a 23-year-old newlywed when she and Captain Mark Phillips were driving back to Buckingham Palace in a limousine marked with the royal insignia. It was about 8 pm and they were returning from a charity event. While Anne’s entourage drove down The Mall toward the palace, a vehicle blocked the road. A man named Ian Ball got out and shot Anne’s driver in the shoulder. He demanded Anne get out of her car.

"Not bloody likely," Anne said. She stayed in the limo and kept Ball talking, discussing where they might go, she told a British talk show in 1980. "I was scrupulously polite because I thought it was silly to be too rude at that stage.”

A daring rescue‍

A police officer was also among the four men shot in the melee. “I was frightened, I won’t mind admitting it,” Captain Phillips later said. “The rescue was so near, but so far.” 

Phillips stayed in the car protecting his wife while a former boxer, Ronnie Russell, walked by the limo. Russell saw the injured policeman and punched the would-be kidnapper in the head.

Years later, Russell told journalists: “I had no idea who was in the car but I when I saw him shoot the copper I thought, ‘That’s taking the p*ss,’ so I went for him. I went to hit him around the back of the head and he turned and fired. It went through a taxi windscreen.”
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The tug-of-war for Princess Anne

There was a tug-of-war as Ball tried to get Anne out of the car and Mark Phillips pulled her back inside. As more police arrived, Ball ran and was tackled to the ground.

In Ball’s car, police found two pairs of handcuffs, Valium tranquilizers, and a ransom letter addressed to Queen Elizabeth demanding that a $2.5m be left in suitcases on a plane destined for Switzerland. Queen Elizabeth was asked to appear on the plane as well to confirm the authenticity of her signatures on any required paperwork.

Ball was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping, and sentenced to 41 years at a high-security psychiatric hospital. The Queen awarded the George Cross, Britain's highest civilian award for courage to Beaton and presented the George Medal for gallantry to boxer Ronald Russell.

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Anne the gold medalist

Anne, an award-winning equestrian, went on to become the first member of the British Royal family to compete in the Olympic Games, held in Montreal in 1976, and while Anne didn’t win a medal, her daughter Zara won silver at the 2012 Olympics.

Princess Anne, now called Princess Royal, was later appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the British Army’s Intelligence Corps. While the appointment is honorary, it does carry weight. Anne is expected to provide wisdom and leadership.

British Army Intelligence Corps‍

The Corps are linguists as well as experts in human Intelligence (HUMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT) analysis, counterintelligence, imagery analysis (IMINT), and covert surveillance. Staff work closely with UK Special Forces and the National Cyber Force with troops deployed on global operations.

Formally constituted in 1940, the Corps provides military intelligence support to the field Army, defense, intelligence agencies, and British allies.