In Part Two of BRIAN HOEY’S extraordinary interview with the Princess Royal we discover how the Royal Family’s security was changed from that day forward…

A witness, Samantha Scott, described to reporters afterwards what she saw. ‘I stopped my Mini and ran to the royal car. They were huddled on the ground. I could see Mark Phillips protecting Anne while the man tried to get them.

‘I could see yellow roses scattered over the floor of the car. When the gunman had gone, I opened the door of the car and put my hand on Anne’s shoulder. I said to her, “Are you all right, love?” She replied sweetly, “I’m all right, thank you”. I asked Mark Phillips if he was OK and he said ‘I’m fine, thank you”.’

The injured men were taken to hospital for emergency operations and the royal couple were driven the short distance to Buckingham Palace where they spent half an hour describing the attack to Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Gerrard. 

Though they were ‘badly shaken’ they were able to give a detailed account.

After giving her statement to the police, Princess Anne made a personal telephone call to Indonesia where her parents were on a state visit. At 5am in Indonesia, she spoke to her father, the Duke of Edinburgh, to assure him that all was well with her and he woke the Queen to let her know.

Then a telephone call was made to San Diego, California, where the Prince of Wales was paying a courtesy call as part of his duties as communications officer on board HMS Jupiter.

Later that same evening Princess Anne and Captain Phillips returned to their home at Sandhurst, travelling in separate cars; Captain Phillips in his Rover 2000, closely followed by Princess Anne, apparently none the worse for her experience, driving herself as usual, at the wheel of her Reliant Scimitar sports saloon. 

There was one extra precaution taken, however: an escort of detectives from Scotland Yard’s Special Branch accompanied them.

Alison and Alan Oliver were driving home from an evening engagement when they heard on the car radio that there had been shooting in The Mall and an attempt made to kidnap Princess Anne.

As they pulled up in the driveway of their house they heard the telephone ringing.

Alison rushed to answer and when she picked up the receiver the voice at the other end said: ‘It’s me, I’m all right.’ 

In the midst of all the confusion Princess Anne had realised that her close friend and confidante would hear a perhaps garbled version of what happened on the news and she was anxious to reassure her that all was well.

Alison Oliver remembers ‘feeling weak at the knees when I heard the news flash and a tremendous feeling of relief when I heard her voice. It was typically thoughtful of her to think of others at such a moment of stress. I’ve never been so glad to get a telephone call in my life.’

Immediately security measures were increased at Sandhurst, with an armed cordon thrown around the Royal Military Academy and two companies of soldiers patrolling the grounds throughout the night. 

Floodlights, which had been installed when the Princess first took up residence, were switched on all buildings within the grounds, including those on Oak Grove House itself. Before leaving Buckingham Palace, Princess Anne had issued a brief statement in which she said: ‘We are very thankful to be in one piece. But we are deeply disturbed and concerned about those who got injured, including our chauffeur Mr Callendar and Inspector Beaton. Inspector Beaton acted particularly bravely and although shot he continued to protect us. We are extremely grateful to all those members of the police and public who tried to help us.’

Princess Anne left for Sandhurst only after issuing instructions that she was to be kept fully informed on the conditions of those who were injured.

She still clearly remembers the event: as she said to me, ‘My first reaction was anger. I was furious at this man who was having a tug-of-war with me.

‘He ripped my dress which was a favourite blue velvet I had had made specially to wear away on honeymoon, but of course our main concern was for the people who had tried to save us and who had been shot. They were very brave and looking back on it now their actions seem even more courageous when you think about them in the cold light of day.’

Of the four men wounded in the incident, Inspector Beaton had the worst injuries, having been shot in the chest, stomach and hand. James Beaton had been bodyguard to Princess Anne for only five months, in fact he was appointed to the job on the day of the Royal Wedding, November 14 1973, when he was a sergeant. Mr Beaton was promoted to Inspector within weeks of his appointment, having passed his promotion examination, after eleven years with the police. A married man with two children he still retained the native burr of Aberdeenshire where he had been born thirty years earlier.

News of the kidnapping attempt was flashed around the world within minutes. The Prime Ministers of all the Commonwealth countries were informed immediately and in the House of Commons a debate on Scottish devolution was interrupted so that the Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, could make a statement. MPs of all parties crowded into the Chamber to hear Mr Jenkins say: ‘I regret to have to report that an attempt was made by an armed man to kidnap Princess Anne at 8pm this evening when she was on her way to Buckingham Palace with her husband. 

‘The attempt did not succeed. Neither Princess Anne nor Captain Phillips was hurt. I much regret to say, however, that Princess Anne’s protection officer sustained very severe injuries and her driver, a police constable, and a member of the public were also seriously hurt.’

Edward Heath, leader of the opposition, offered the sympathy of the whole House to those injured and to Princess Anne and Captain Phillips. He went on to suggest that the home secretary would want to consider what sort of inquiry should be made. 

One of the basic questions would be how knowledge of the movements of Princess Anne and Captain Phillips came to be known so that anybody could attempt an attack upon them. The leader of the Liberal Party, Jeremy Thorpe, deplored any act of violence against any person in this country and Donald Stewart for the Scottish Nationalists, who had been debating a subject close to their hearts when the announcement was made, expressed abhorrence at the news given by Mr Jenkins.

When he left Parliament, the home secretary drove to the scene of the incident, where police still swarmed all over the place looking for clues. They had already recovered two loaded pistols. The maroon and black Austin limousine still stood where it had been forced to stop. It was shattered by gunfire. The rear offside window and the front offside window were destroyed and the rear window had a star shaped bullet hole in it. Glass fragments were everywhere and there were bloodstains both inside the car and on the pavement alongside. 

The taxi in which Brian McConnell was travelling was also still there, raked by gunfire. Television and radio reporters rushed to the spot and programmes were interrupted to give the latest details. There was a great amount of speculation about who was behind the attempt and the IRA issued a statement denying that they were involved in any way. The prime minister, Harold Wilson, ordered an immediate inquiry and Sir Robert Mark, Metropolitan Police commissioner, assigned three deputy assistant commissioners to head the investigation.

Their injuries were serious and needed immediate surgery, but the following day they were all off the danger list.

Princess Anne and Captain Phillips sent them flowers and ‘get well’ messages and they received personal visits from Lord Maclean, who as Lord Chamberlain was head of the Queen’s Household. Later when they were well enough to receive more visitors, the royal couple went to see them to offer their personal thanks.

Within three days the Home Office announced that it was considering what medals should be awarded to those who tackled the gunman. The Queen had been consulted and had indicated that she did not want exceptionally important honours bestowed just because her daughter was involved.

Eventually the Queen recognised the bravery of the people involved and Inspector James Beaton received the highest award possible for gallantry in civilian life, the George Cross. 

Michael Hills, the police constable who had been on duty at St. James’s Palace and Ronald Russel, a businessman who had also tackled the gunman, were awarded the George Medal.

Three others involved in the incident, journalist Brian McConnell, chauffeur Alexander Callendar and policeman Peter Edwards, the man who had caught the gunman, all given the Queen’s Gallantry Medal. Mr Edwards also earned himself a bonus by catching the attacker. As a result of his action he was promoted to the rank of Detective Constable.

On Princess Anne’s twenty-fourth birthday, August 15, 1974, the Queen created her a Dame Grand Cross of The Royal Victorian Order for her brave behaviour throughout the ordeal and her husband was made a Commander, while Lady-in-Waiting Rowena Brassey became a member of the Order. The Victorian awards are the Sovereign’s personal prerogative and are given only for service considered to be of great value to the Queen herself.

Later that same year, in November, when the injured men had recovered, the Queen gave a special investiture which was followed by a reception to which all the men who had been involved in the operation were invited with their families. It was an opportunity for the Queen to thank them personally for saving her daughter’s life, and for Princess Anne and Captain Phillips to add their own appreciation.

Sometime later Inspector Beaton left the Palace Protection Squad for a number of years. But in January 1983 he returned to royal service when he was appointed Personal Detective to Her Majesty the Queen.

Meanwhile the true story of the kidnapping attempt was being revealed in court. If an author had submitted the plot as a work of fiction, it would have been rejected as far too improbable.

The gunman had been identified as Ian Ball, an Englishman born in Watford, Hertfordshire, in 1947. In court it was revealed that he planned to hold Princess Anne for a ransom of £3million and a free pardon for all his offences. The ransom note had been found on him when he was overpowered in St. James’s Park. It was addressed to the Queen and read:

‘Your daughter has been kidnapped – the following conditions to be fulfilled for her release. A ransom of £3million is to be paid in £5 notes. They are to be used, unmarked, not sprayed with any chemical substance and not consecutively numbered. The money is to be packed in 30 unlocked suitcases clearly marked on the outside. The following documents are to be prepared: a free pardon to cover the kidnapping, and anything connected with it, i.e. the possession of firearms or the murder of any police officer; a free pardon for any offences committed by myself from parking to murder. As the money is to be banked abroad, I shall be asking for a free pardon to run indefinitely for being in contravention of the Exchange Control Act. Documents are to be prepared for a civilian action to be taken against the police if they disclose my true identity with damages of not less than £1million. A civilian action to be taken against you or your consorts if you reveal my true identity. No excuses will be accepted for failing to compile these documents. If they cannot be drawn up under existing laws, the laws must be changed.’

Ball’s letter then went on to describe how the ransom money was to be delivered to him personally on an aircraft waiting at London’s Heathrow Airport, bound for Zurich. He wanted the transaction handled by one of his solicitors, a Mr Clarke. The letter continued: ‘No one else will be acceptable. If he is ill, I want him brought to me on a stretcher. If he is dead, I want his body dug up and brought to the plane.’

Ball then wrote that the Queen would have to come and see him herself and give a sample signature so that he could be sure she really was the Queen. Once he had flown to Switzerland, the plane would return and Princess Anne would be released.

A letter written by a madman? Certainly one of his solicitors had stated at a previous hearing on March 28 that ‘it should be known in the interest of the defendant and the public generally that the defendant has a confirmed history of psychiatric illness. He was diagnosed in hospital in 1967 as a schizoid and he is being examined at the moment by eminent psychiatrists.’

At the age of twenty-six Ball described himself as a ‘loner’. Throughout his life he had felt inadequate and unable to make friends. Even at school he had been such a nonentity that no one could even remember him. He lived with his parents until he was in his early twenties and had a number of jobs, none of any consequence, and again he was seen to be a misfit.

He hadn’t worked for two years prior to the kidnap attempt, and four years before the event had slipped into a life of petty crime. He was arrested and convicted three times for receiving stolen property and obtaining goods by deception. It was while he was on probation for one of these offences that his mental state was noticed. He was found to be suffering from nervous debility and psychiatric depression and he attended St. Mary Abbot’s Hospital, Kensington, as an outpatient after refusing to be admitted as an inpatient. One of the reasons he gave for the attempted kidnapping was to bring public attention to bear on the lack of facilities for the treatment of mental patients under the National Health Service. He could have been treated privately for his condition but in his confused state he preferred to spend his money, which he saved by living in cheap former Battle of Britain airfield at Biggin Hill in lodgings and eating only one meal a day, on flying lessons at the former Battle of Britain airfield at Biggin Hill in Kent.

Mentally disturbed he may have been, yet he laid his plans for the kidnap attempt with great care and attention to detail. Shortly before the attack, Ball withdrew all his savings from his bank account – when he was captured he had nearly £700 in notes on him. He also burned all his personal papers, including driving licence, passport and pilot’s licence, as well as removing the labels from his clothes.

He rented a house in a quiet cul-de-sac in a residential area of Fleet, Hampshire, just a few miles from Oak Grove House at Sandhurst. The street where Ball went to stay was known locally as ‘Brigadiers’ Row’ because so many army officers lived there. He kept himself very much to himself with the curtains tightly drawn and listening to classical music on records for much of the time.

The week before the attempt he hired a typewriter from a shop in Camberley, Surrey, and attracted attention from the assistant because he said he only needed it for one day, to type two letters. The letters turned out to be the ransom note and a letter to a firm of solicitors in Hounslow, Middlesex, whom he wanted to act as intermediaries in the ransom negotiations.

He hired a Ford Escort car and this was very nearly his undoing. On the day of the attempted kidnapping, Ball was questioned by the police who were investigating a series of burglaries in the Camberley area. Ball had parked his hired car near the rear entrance of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, so that he could observe Princess Anne’s movements. A detective chief inspector noticed the car, asked to see Ball’s driving licence, which was produced, presumably a forgery since he had already burnt the original licence with his other documents, searched the boot of the car and then allowed him to leave when nothing was found. This was less than eight hours before the incident in The Mall.

The house he had rented was ready to receive its royal guest and Ball set off for London to commit the crime and earn himself dubious place in history.

When he appeared before Lord Chief Justice Widgery at the Old Bailey on May 22 1974, Ball pleaded guilty to the kidnap attempt, the attempted murder of two police officers and wounding two civilians. He was ordered to be detained in a special hospital under the Mental Health Act without limit of time.

Two days after the attempted kidnapping, the home secretary announced that all royal security measures would be reviewed immediately. Among the subjects to be considered were the setting up of a special police squad to guard royal homes and the royal family; whether all royal cars should be fitted with bullet-proof glass; should there be a special communications centre established with two-way radios fitted to all vehicles used by the royal family; why the pistol carried by Princess Anne’s protection officer jammed after firing only one shot; should advance publicity be given about the travel arrangements of the royal family and the routes they would use?

Mr Jenkins said that he had discussed with the Metropolitan Police commissioner

Such action was seen to be sensible to increase the safeguards already taken against attacks of this kind. Of course the conclusions reached by any inquiry into security surrounding the royal family and other public figures must remain confidential if they are to be effective, and one of the other great problems was how to achieve the extra degree of security required without an unacceptable interference with the ability of those being guarded to lead lives as near normal as possible.

It was about this time that the Queen and other members of the royal family had started the practice of ‘walkabouts’ – mingling informally with crowds of onlookers, some of whom had waited hours for the opportunity of exchanging a few words with the royal personality. It was an innovation that pleased the Queen enormously and proved extremely popular with her subjects. Never before had there been such public access to the Monarch and her family and the Queen was known to favour the custom being continued, even after the incident in The Mall. The entire royal family hated the idea of any massive security net being thrown around Buckingham Palace and the other royal homes and the Palace Press Office said that the idea of ‘bullet proof cages’ was out!

There was concern in many quarters that the attack would spark off a series of similar incidents with other public figures. In the House of Commons, John Lee, a Labour member representing the Handsworth constituency of Birmingham, said: ‘There is always the danger when acts of this kind happen that disturbed resort to imitative tactics.’ The home secretary had already indicated that preliminary inquiries had shown that the attack was an isolated incident, carried out by a man with no terrorist connections.

It should be emphasized that even though Princess Anne had been travelling in an unescorted vehicle, she had been accompanied by an armed officer, and there were already in existence a number of sophisticated arrangements to guard the royal family. For instance, radios at all royal homes were tuned to high frequency police wavelengths to make sure contact would not be lost even if the telephone one lines were cut; panic buttons were installed at Buckingham Palace, Balmoral, Windsor and Sandringham, wired direct to the nearest police station so that help could be summoned within minutes. 

Bleepers were in use – electronic devices that enabled police to keep track of the movements of any royal car, so that if it deviated from its prescribed route, they would be aware immediately. Nevertheless, police protection, though professional, was somewhat casual. They deliberately kept a low profile and this is exactly what the royal family had wished until then.

In 1981 I spoke to Princess Anne about security in the early days when she was at school at Benenden in Kent. Talking about her detective she said: ‘I didn’t see much of him. You don’t judge things as they are today, the detective was there really only for travelling purposes and he didn’t live on the premises, he lived just out of the school grounds… He was seen occasionally wandering about, but nobody really bothered about him.’ Vastly different from the royal protection squad these days. Every member of the Royal Family has a number of police officers working a rota system, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. 

They are specially trained in unarmed combat and marksmanship and each has to adapt to the particular lifestyle of his royal ‘charge’. Princess Anne’s detectives spend more time with her than with their own families. They see her more frequently than her husband, and at Badminton and Burghley they can usually be seen dressed in casual country wear, holding the hand of one or other of the royal children. 

They live at Gatcombe Park with a very pleasant room inside the house and whenever Princess Anne leaves the grounds, the detective is the figure you see sitting beside her in her own car. Even if her husband is travelling with the Princess, he is usually required to sit in the back. Not because protocol demands it – security does.