Princess Anne was nearly kidnapped at gunpoint in 1974 but gave a ballsy response to her attacker
THE closest anyone has come to abducting a member of the British royal family was a terrifying incident in 1974.
Shortly after her wedding in 1973, Princess Anne - then aged just 24 - was involved in a traumatic kidnapping attempt outside Buckingham Palace.
The princess was in chauffeur-driven limo - with her then-husband Captain Phillips - driving down the Mall to the palace, when a car swerved in front of them.
An armed and masked man, Ian Ball, shot at Anne's car as royal police protection officer James Beaton and driver Alex Callender got out of the car to return fire.
During the attack James’s weapon jammed and he was shot by Ball three times.
Alex was also shot in an attempt to disarm Ball, along with journalist Brian McConnell who tried to intervene.
The attacker then got in Anne's limo and told her to get out - but the Queen’s only daughter gave a ballsy response.
She replied: "Not bloody likely".
Eventually, Anne did actually get out, with Ian following close behind.
However, he was then punched by a passerby, and police were able to arrest him.
He had planned to abduct the princess and demand £2m ransom from the Queen, but ended up being sentenced to life in prison and detained in a mental hospital.
Speaking about the ordeal on Parkinson, Princess Anne, 69, said: "He opened the door, and we had a sort of discussion, hah, about where or where not we were going to go.
"He said I had to go with him, can't remember why.
"I said I didn’t think I wanted to go.
"I was scrupulously polite because I thought it’s silly to be too rude or that sort of thing.
"We had a fairly low-key discussion about the fact that I wasn’t going to go anywhere and wouldn’t it be much better if he moved away and we’d all forget about it?"
HOW PRINCESS ANNE BECAME ONE OF THE MOST HARDWORKING ROYALS
PRINCESS Anne was born in 1950 and is the Queen's only daughter.
She is known as one of the hardest working royals, but reguarly shuns the spotlight to concentrate on her role.
In 2018 alone, she completed 518 engagements, more than Prince Charles at 507 and the Duke of Cambridge at 220.
She married Olympic equestrian Mark Phillips in 1973, and suffered an unhappy marriage where they were both linked to other people.
The low point came later on, however, in 1985, when Mark fathered a love child with an art teacher from New Zealand. Predictably, the pair split four years later.
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