Princess Anne talks about 1974 kidnap attempt (1983)

the race yes can we talk talk about a more for a moment about the more serious aspect of um that the two of you you share and that of course is the the problem of uh the danger that uh you are in just by being who you are um and let's talk specifically about the time in 1974 when there was a kidnap attempt made on you in the m in London um can you tell me you know tell us exactly what happened and your memories of that of that day it'll sound very disjointed and and probably different but uh the essence of the operation was this um car overtook us and stopped this was going up the male what 8:00 9:00 8:00 night I suppose and it was fairly empty and the M isn't all that well lit either um and we were sort of more or less in the middle and it pulled up a bit quick and so the chap just stopped to avoid it and this man got out of his car ran back and policeman got out of his car and he walked around the back of the car and when he came around the back of the car he realized that this man had a gun and uh he shot that was an exchange of shots and the policeman got off one shot which and convinced came through the back window of the car cuz that all hit hit me on the back of the head and that was a good start and then his unban to us his gun jammed so that he became us and he was also quite seriously wounded at that stage and then the chauffer tried to get out and he got shot but don't I mean my problem is and I'm not sure quite which order all these things happened but the chauffer when he went to get out of the car he was shot and he stayed in in the car and then he opened the door and we had a sort of discussion about where or where not we were going to go what what did you what did you say what do you remember the discussion I mean what did he say um well he said I had to go with him um can't remember why I don't think you really gave a reason why not but you were quite OBS about I said I didn't didn't think I wanted to go thank you very much I I was scrupulously polite cuz I thought silly to be know too rude in that stage again and we had a fairly lowkey discussion about the fact that I wasn't going to go anywhere and wouldn't it be much better if he just went away and we'd all forget about it um which on do it turned out wishful thinking um and this discussion went on a little bit now this discussion was interspersed with occasional bursts of activity from elsewhere um one of which was a policeman who' sort of heard popping noises and somebody told him to go and look and he wandered over and literally tapped this man on the shoulder cuz I don't think he realized it was gunshots and he got shot wounded not fortunately seriously and then we went back to having this rather um sort of tedious discussion about not going anywhere there was a member of the public that came to look as well well there was on my side of the car there was a gentleman who'd obviously be walking down the far side of the mile and he walked all the way across the road and he looked in through the window and he went H so it is you turn on water went went off down the mou it it's I don't I mean I may not be right about the time scale but I that's just like a sort of photograph I can see him doing it and then off he went and then I it got slightly rougher didn't it at one stage cuz we we did in fact when he shot the policeman we managed to close the door eventually got the door back open again he got the door back open but in the process of getting the door back open the back of my dress split from top to when all the shoulders went out of it and that was his most dangerous moment was I cross I lost my rag at that State I but he had hold of one arm and I had hold of the other that was a bit later though wasn't it cuz I mean when he after he he' opened the door again the whole thing claped a bit and then he grabbed my arm um and pulled unfortunately well I don't know whether it was me holding on to him or him holding on to me but anyway we we maintained the status quo for a bit um I wasn't going anywhere put it that way and then at this stage my policeman had managed to get back into the car from the other side and my lady waiting had left we told her to get out and she did quite quickly in fact she was going to pick up the policeman's gun but some bossy lady standing on the side told her not to touch it Fierce tone so anyway the policeman got back in and he joined in The Fray and got shot again for his pains and then somehow we all ended up on the floor and I was lying yes flat on my back on the floor of the car and you were basically sort of half on top that was just how ended up after this tug of walk you the whole thing rather sort of collapsed and heat but I could reach the door handle behind my head and I opened the door and literally pulled my feet over my head and did a sort of backward some sort onto the road and then waited cuz I thought if I was out of the car that he might move and he did eventually and he went around the front of the car I got back in the car and shut the door and police were there at that stage and I said you g on now it's your chance and he then legged it off towards the AR and was um smothered by I think the local rugby team police that was the most frightening part was when the police actually arrived it took what 10 minutes or so before the the police actually came and when they did come um so rescue was was was so near and yet it was so far because then he was like caged animals well while he was there actually facing one with the gun there was not much they could do about it right but the time SC was very difficult to judge but there was a a taxi driver who came past quite early on in the proceedings and his fair wouldn't let him stop and he went on and he dropped him at Charing Cross station and came back again and it was still going on as long as that so at least 10 minutes 10 15 minutes or something what were your thoughts Captain Phillips I mean when this extraordinary game of tug of war this dialogue going on I mean what I just anything you can do really is it I mean the it had never occurred to me that I might actually end up in that sort of situation um I think you probably had thought about it beforehand um so it was all a bit of a shock and and it was I was frightened I don't mind admitting it the um but but somehow while we had a dialogue going it it didn't seem too bad s um because well we were able to keep to keep talking and to keep to keep arguing or you and and it was all right like I said he was slowly running out of bullets you were counting were you you counted yes you seen all the movies seen the movies seen the movies yes but he had two guns which let his fault but you but you said that that you had considered it of course before M and I suppose you had to consider the eventuality yes I don't know that one had to but it it was something that um I don't know I'm just you know it just Struck One as possibility and you know what would you do if and uh I suppose the answer is well I don't know I mean I decided that I wasn't going to get out if the you know if that uh particular situation arose however um there was only one man and me if there had been more than one that might have been a different story yes it there have been a backup I mean it it could have happened it couldn't is it much more risky nowadays do you think U being uh in your in your position than it than it was I doubt it really um I think uh I mean public figures have always been um in danger to some degree I mean Queen Victoria had uh several attempts I think five attempts I didn't know um on on in during her Reign and mostly um single people yes whether it's worse that is your in fact perhaps your greatest Danger All um the lone nut case who's you know just got enough to put it together rather than the the organized terrorist group but I mean it would be fair to say that if anybody was seriously intent on wiping one out it would be very easy to do being of course betrayed

Channel: Reelsarency

Views: 1,595,785

Keywords: princess, anne, kidnap, attempt, ransom, ian, ball, assassination, security, scare, royal, protection, family, mall, london, 1974, mark, phillips, queen, elizabeth, james, beaton, alex, callender, ron, russell, peter, edmonds, brian, mcconnell, buckingham, palace, british, monarchy, michael, parkinson

Id: CXoyjpeEH_o

Length: 8min 47sec (527 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 21 2011