‘Not bloody likely’; What happened when a lone gunman tried to kidnap Princess Anne

The young royal was ‘scrupulously polite’ during the terrifying ordeal (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Your daughter has been kidnapped. The following are conditions to be fulfilled for release.’ 

The curtains were shut tight as Ian Ball typed out the words on a ransom note using a  rented typewriter. The letter demanded £3,000,000 and was intended for the eyes of Queen Elizabeth II.

Ball – inspired by Frederick Forsyth’s fictional assassin ‘The Jackal’ – had spent two years drawing up a plan to kidnap the monarch’s 23-year-old daughter, Princess Anne. 

In March 1974, he decided to pounce. 

As part of his plan, Ball moved from his seedy bedsit in Bayswater, London to a plush rented house on a dead-end street in Fleet, Hampshire. It was five miles from Sandhurst, where the young princess royal lived with her then-husband, Captain Mark Phillips. He rented a car under the name John Williams and stocked it with Valium tranquilizers and two pairs of handcuffs.

Ball, 26, knew which engagements and events Anne would attend each week, after a simple call to the Buckingham Palace press office had told him everything he needed to know. 

Then, on March 20, 1974, he set out to capture a princess. 

The attack

Princess Anne gazed out the window of her Austin Princess royal limousine as it trundled down the Mall. She was returning to Buckingham Palace on March 20 after attending a screening of Riding Towards Freedom, a documentary by the charity Riding for the Disabled. Captain Phillips, her bodyguard James Beaton and her lady-in-waiting Rowena Jane Brassey were also in the car, which was driven by veteran chauffeur Alexander Callender.

Hot on their tail was Ian Ball in a hired white Ford Escort. At around 8pm, he swerved in front of the Austin Princess and leapt out, smashing the passenger window with the butt of his Walther PPK, a pistol he’d bought while on holiday in Spain the previous year.

‘Get down’ shouted bodyguard Beaton, as glass shattered in the royal car.Anne’s dress split at the back as she ducked for cover.

Bullets struck his chest, arm and shoulder as Ball fired widely at the vehicle. Driver Callender was also hit, and stumbled away as blood spilled from the bullet wound in his chest.

A map of the key locations on the night of the attack (Picture: Metro.co.uk/Datawrapper)

The gunman ordered Anne to leave the Austin Princess, to which she replied ‘not bloody likely’. Ball tried to drag her out, but Captain Phillips clung on to the door handle to prevent his entry, and proved the stronger of the two men. 

Tabloid journalist Brian McConnell, who had been in a car behind Anne’s as he covered the royal outing, was hit in the chest as he tried to tackle Ball.

Constable Michael Hills, 22, the first officer to arrive, was shot in the stomach by the injured Ball. He’d managed to call for backup before being wounded.

It was at this point that a man called Ronald Russell noticed the commotion. He was driving down the Mall on his way home to Strood, Kent, from his job as an area manager for a cleaning company in London. 

Luckily for Anne – and unluckily for Ball – Russell was a former boxer. He had trained at the Repton Club in East London, an infamous venue sponsored by the notorious Kray twins. 

Ron Russell, pictured with his son, punched Ian Ball twice in the head as he tried to kidnap Anne (Picture: PA Archive/PA Images)

Ian Ball attempted to kidnap Princess Anne four months after her wedding to Captain Mark Phillips (Picture: Associated Newspapers)

Insp James Beaton (C) bodyguard to Princess Anne, PC Michael Hills (L) and DC Peter Edmonds were injured in trying to contain the gunman (Picture: Daily Mail)

Ron punched Ball twice in the head before leading Anne and her lady-in-waiting – who had escaped through the passenger door and was stood nearby- away from the gunman. He later explained he ‘did not like bullies,’ which spurred his decision to intervene.

Detective Constable Peter Edmonds, who answered Constable Hills’ radio request for backup, chased Ball down the Mall and through St. James Park before tackling him to the ground.

Anne and her shaken party were taken to Buckingham Palace in a police car while detectives tried to piece together just what had spurred Ball to try to kidnap the princess. 

In an interview with the late television presenter Michael Parkinson, the Princess Royal recalled: ‘He [the gunman] opened the door and we had a discussion about where – or where not – we were going to go.

‘I said I didn’t think I wanted to go. I was scrupulously polite because I thought it would be silly to be too rude at that stage.’

The trial 

Ian Ball (left) pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping charges (Picture: Getty Images/Daily Mail)

Ball’s trial was carried out in Court One of the Old Bailey. He spent much of the proceedings with his head bowed, and only spoke one word. ‘Guilty,’ he confirmed when the charges of attempted murder and kidnapping were read out against him. As evidence was given, his stranger-than-fiction plan was revealed.

Ball – a ‘loner’ who had worked in a funeral parlour – had been inspired by the novel ‘Day of the Jackal’ and wanted to follow in the footsteps of the book’s hero, the Jackal, a contracted assassin. 

Before renting a house in Hampshire, Ball had lived for four years in his Bayswater bedsit. ‘He was a very strange man,’ a downstairs neighbour later said. ‘The only time he ever went out was when he went down to the launderette or went out for some food.’

Ball’s plan was to take Anne to his Hampshire house and keep her there until the Royal Family coughed up £3,000,000 in used £5 notes. 

It was thought he had developed a ‘fixation’ on the royal, perhaps spurred on by the widespread coverage of her wedding to Mark Phillips in 1973. There were 2,000 guests at the lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey and 500 million people marvelled at the spectacle worldwide.

Ian Ball arrives in a police van for his first appearance at Bow Street Court, London, 21st March 1974 (Picture: Leonard Burt/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Given Ball’s poor mental state, a specific motive was never truly found.  In his pocket, detectives had discovered the  kidnap note addressed to the Queen which demanded the £3m ransom (to be paid in £5 notes), a free pardon and a plane to fly him to Switzerland.

In one police interview, Ball had been asked ‘Are you admitting you tried to kidnap Princess Anne and you deliberately shot the people who got in your way?’

‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘But I wouldn’t have hurt her.

He added: ‘I suppose I’ll be locked up for the rest of my life. I am only sorry I frightened Princess Anne. There is one good thing coming out of this: you will have to improve on her protection.’

Ball was diagnosed with schizophrenia following the trial and sentenced to a mental health facility under the Mental Health Act, ‘without limit or time.’ 

He remains in the Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire. The facility has housed infamous criminals such as serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, London gangster Ronnie Kray and Islamic terrorist Michael Adebowale.

The legacy

Royal expert Mok O’Keefe, host of the The Love History Podcast, says Anne demonstrated ‘grit and determination’ throughout the ordeal (Picture: Mok O’Keefe)

The kidnapping attempt on Princess Anne, which took place 50 years ago on March 20, led to a societal shift, says  royal historian Mok O’Keefe.

‘In 1974 there was still an element of mystique about the Royal Family’, he tells Metro.co.uk.

‘They were “not like us”, they were slightly “other” and “separate”. The attempted kidnap brought into focus their humanity and vulnerability as people, not just as public figures.’

This in turn led to debate on the amount of protection the Royal Family ought to have.

Mok adds: ‘This incident not only cemented the public’s view of the Princess Royal as a strong character, it also showed them the vulnerable side of the Royal Family.

‘The public, the Government and the Royal Household realised that royal protection would need to be significantly increased.’

Indeed, things changed ‘overnight’. Before the kidnapping attempt, there had been a focus on individual protection officers. This shifted into a team approach demonstrated two days after the attack when Anne visited her rescuers in hospital, flanked by an officer on either side.

In the aftermath of the kidnapping, the Princess Royal had carried on with her royal duties. On March 25, she travelled to the Wiltshire village of Great Somerford. In a tea marquee, as a police helicopter circled overhead and Doberman police dogs patrolled the streets, she appeared ‘relaxed’ to those around her.

Nurse Mary Fitch, 19, nervously enquired how the young royal and her husband were faring after the scare.

‘As far as we are concerned, it was so unbelievable one doesn’t really believe it happened’, the princess mused.

‘It would not have been much good sort of sitting and brooding about it.’ 

However, the kidnapping incident not only had a lasting legacy on royal protection, but also on Anne’s reputation.

Mok, speaking from his small castle in rural Wales, adds: ‘Today, we know Anne is famously one of the most hard working members of the Royal Family, and continually tops the league of official engagements.

Princess Anne has long been known as the hardest-working royal (Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

‘Although she can be quite formal, she also has an ability to connect with people and she frequently recognises royal fans in the crowd.

‘She is quite a modest woman, and, although she recognises her royal position, can often seem genuinely surprised that people wait for hours in the rain to see her at an official engagement.

‘Although the Princess was only 23-years-old at the time of the attempted kidnap, we can clearly see some of the attributes that would go on to help her create a success personal and public life,’ he continues. ‘She remained very calm, while looking down the barrel of a gun, because she is assertive and incredibly practical. 

‘When faced with the kidnapper, Princess Anne knew the safest thing was to stay in the car and refuse to give into his demands. It would have required immense assertiveness to respond to a demand to get out of the car with “not bloody likely”. 

‘She demonstrated a grit and determination that has served her well in her public role.’

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Kirsten.Robertson@metro.co.uk 

Share your views in the comments below.