Original subtitles

March the 20th, 1974, London, 7 .45pm.

Just 400 yards short of Buckingham Palace, a small white car suddenly cuts

front of a royal limousine, bringing it to an abrupt halt with a screech of

brake.

A man brandishing a gun leaps out and moves towards the limousine, shooting as

he does so.

His target, the Queen's only daughter, Princess Anne.

Although members of the British royal family are among the most famous people

the world, during the early 1970s, their personal security is not considered

much of an issue when they're out and about in public.

In fact, leading politicians are probably better protected.

But no matter how popular the royal family might be, there's always a chance

that out there is a lone madman who wishes them harm.

And on the evening of March 20th, 1974, in the heart of London, Princess Anne

comes face to face with such a person.

Princess Anne was born on August 15th, 1950, the second child of Princess

Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

At the time of her birth, she is third in line to the throne, behind her mother

and elder brother, Prince Charles.

However, when Elizabeth becomes Queen in 1952, on the death of her father,

George VI, Anne moves up into second place.

Following private tuition at Buckingham Palace in September 1963, Anne, now aged

13, is sent to an exclusive all -girls boarding school, Benenden.

in Kent.

She begins undertaking public duties, still a teenager, in the late 1960s, and

is soon clocking up around 500 engagements a year.

As she does so, Anne develops a reputation not only as one of the most

-working, but also as probably one of the most plain -speaking and down -to

-earth members of the royal family.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks, Ian Ball, A highly disturbed

man in his early 20s is living alone in a rented room in West London, scraping a

living doing odd jobs, even at one time working for an undertaker.

He finds it difficult to make friends and spends most of his spare time

television.

By 1971, he's working as a van driver for a West End film company.

Even though he doesn't get on particularly well with his colleagues,

the job.

It gives him time to think while out on the road.

He's desperate to make something of himself, but lacks any kind of skill or

intellectual ability.

So he carries on drifting, until, out of nowhere, he begins to fantasize about

kidnapping a member of the British royal family and holding them to ransom.

But Ball can't decide which one to go for.

Then... As he's watching television one night, he sees Princess Anne in a riding

competition.

This is it, he thinks.

She'll be the target.

All he needs now is the opportunity.

As the kidnap plan begins to develop in his fevered mind, Ball begins reading

everything he can on the royal family, especially the princess.

He also makes up his mind that once he's got her under lock and key,

He will kill her if his demands are not met.

But in order to kidnap Anne and kill her, if necessary,

Ball needs a weapon.

So he takes a plane from London's Heathrow Airport and flies to Madrid in

Here he buys two handguns as well as a plentiful supply of ammunition.

One is a nine -shot .22 Caddix.

The other a five -shot .38 caddy.

Ball then returns to London, walking calmly through the airport with the guns

and ammunition hidden in his case.

And as luggage is not x -rayed at the time, no one challenges him.

Once Ball gets back home, he hides the guns.

He also buys three pairs of steel handcuffs.

and hides them as well.

Now all he has to do is bide his time, waiting for the right opportunity.

But first he must change his identity.

He gets the idea from the best -selling thriller The Day of the Jackal by

Frederick Forsyth, reading it and re -reading it time and time again.

Ball decides to change his name to John Williams.

and in order to make the switch more authentic, takes a driving test, even

though he's held a full license for the last four years.

He passes the test with flying colors, and is issued with a new license bearing

his new name.

He also opens a new bank account, puts the guns in a safety deposit box, and

gets a new passport.

Then, in early March 1974, Ball, now age 26, rents a house in the small town

of Fleet, Hampshire.

This is where he intends keeping Princess Anne prisoner until the ransom

paid.

It's not far from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, where his target

now living.

Anne is married to a young army officer, Captain Mark Phillips.

with whom she shares a love of horses and competitive riding at the highest

level.

In fact, by the time she marries, Princess Anne has already won various

and international events.

The fairytale wedding took place on November 14, 1973, at London's

Abbey, before a congregation of around 1 ,800 guests.

The elaborate ceremony is also watched by a worldwide television audience of

more than 500 million people.

The following day, the couple fly to Barbados, where they join the royal

Britannia and embark on a honeymoon cruise in the Caribbean.

Two weeks later, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips return home to a round of

public duties and appointments.

In the new year of 1974,

They accompany the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on a state visit to

Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

When this is over, and Mark Phillips has been posted to the Royal Military

College at Sandhurst as an instructor, they move into a house in the college's

extensive grounds.

Later, Princess Anne and her husband will move again, but this time to a

beautiful country mansion, Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire.

a wedding present from the Queen.

But for now, she's quite happy at Sandhurst.

However, little could the couple have realized that just five weeks after they

move in, something will happen which will not only change their lives, but

of every other member of the royal family as well.

March the 13th, 1974.

Having checked Princess Anne's forthcoming engagements with the

Palace press office, Ian Ball is now just days away from embarking on one of

most audacious acts in British criminal history.

He retrieves his guns from the bank's safety deposit box.

He also hires a typewriter. He has a very important letter to write.

March 20th, the Mall, London, 5pm.

A white Ford Escort is parked close to Buckingham Palace.

The driver is Ian Ball, and he's waiting for Princess Anne and Mark Phillips.

Buckingham Palace, 5 .30pm.

Ball's patience is rewarded as he watches the royal couple's limousine

and head down the mall.

They're on their way to a screening of Riding Towards Freedom.

A film made on behalf of the Riding for the Disabled Association, of which Anne

is patron.

Both Princess Anne and Phillips feature in a number of scenes.

It's being shown at Sudbury House, near Ludgate Circus, in the financial heart

of London.

Sudbury House, Ludgate Circus, 6pm.

Ball arrives at Sudbury House and parks his car outside, waiting for the couple

to emerge.

7 .30 p .m.

Princess Anne and Mark Phillips, accompanied by their police bodyguard,

Inspector James Beaton, and Lady Rowena Brassy, Anne's lady -in -waiting, leave

the building and get into their car.

It's driven by 55 -year -old Alexander Calland.

The traffic is not particularly heavy, and the limousine is soon cutting

Admiralty Arch towards Horse Guards Parade and the mall.

Neither Callender nor any of his passengers noticed the small white Ford

following close behind.

It's Ian Ball, and he's been tailing the Royal car since it left Sudbury House.

7 .45 p .m.

Approximately halfway along the mall, less than 400 yards from Buckingham

Palace, Ball sees his truck, overtakes the Royal car, and cuts in front.

forcing it to brake violently and veer to the left.

Thirty -year -old Royal Bodyguard Inspector Beaton, who's sitting in the

passenger seat, instinctively realises something is horribly wrong and reaches

for his gun.

Without a police escort and no radio in the Royal car, he knows he's on his own.

Ball flings his car door open and leaps out, brandishing the .38 handgun.

He lets off a shot.

Beaton jumps out, runs round the back of the Royal car, and rushes Ball in an

attempt to disarm.

Ball shoots him at point -blank range.

Although wounded, Beaton manages to fire back, but his aim is shaky, and he

misses.

He tries again, but his gun jams.

Now Ball pulls open the door of the limousine, leans in and grabs Anne's

He tells her to get into his car.

She refuses.

As this is going on, Rowena Bradley opens the door on her side and stumbles

falling face down.

By this time, Ball is furious and threatens to shoot Anne if Beaton

throw down his gun.

Ball then produces his .22 pistol and raises it.

As he does so, Beaton puts his hand in front of the muzzle and is shot for the

second time.

But he still won't give up. He tries to seize Ball and is shot yet again, this

time more seriously, in the stomach.

Ball then shoots Callan, the Royal Chauffeur, at point -blank range in the

as he starts getting out of the car.

after refusing to turn off the still -running engine.

The whole thing is witnessed by horrified onlookers, as well as a 46

Fleet Street journalist, Brian McConnell, who'd been close behind the

in a taxi.

As the taxi halts, McConnell gets out and approaches Ball, trying to reason

him. He says, Look, old man, these are friends of mine.

Give me the gun.

He's shot in the chest.

Now, 26 -year -old Ron Russell, a 6 -foot -4 -inch tall ex -boxer, on his

back from work as manager of an office cleaning company, arrives on the scene.

He sees what's going on and pulls his car across Ball, thus cutting off his

of escape.

As he gets out, Ball fires at him, misses him by millimetres, with the

shattering a nearby taxi windscreen.

Ball also fires at and hits 22 -year -old police constable Michael Hills as

runs towards him.

The bullet hits Hills' notebook and punches into his liver, where it's

this day.

Russell then swings at Ball, hitting him on the back of the head.

Ball knows the game is up. He must now try and escape.

Although wounded, Hills manages to call for backup on his radio.

The message is picked up by Detective Constable Peter Edmonds.

He heads over to the mall at top speed.

As he slews his car to a halt, he sees a man holding a gun running hard across

St. James's Park.

It's ball.

24 -year -old Edmonds catches up and brings him down with a rugby tackle.

During his frenzied attempt to abduct Princess Anne and hold her to ransom,

fires a total of 11 shots from his two handguns, badly wounding three men.

The whole affair lasts just ten minutes.

As the injured men are rushed to hospital, a police car takes Anne and

on to Buckingham Palace.

Police continue to question passing motorists as Anne phones her parents.

who are on a state visit to Indonesia.

And because she wants her immediate family to know before it hits the

Anne also phones her brother, Prince Charles, a Royal Navy officer, on board

ship HMS Jupiter in San Diego, California.

As she does so, the search in and around St. James's Park gets underway.

It will continue throughout the night.

When dawn breaks the following day, all the vehicles involved in the attack are

still in the same position.

The glass -strewn floor in the rear of Anne's car clearly shows how close she

came to being hit by the flying bullets.

One, as indicated here, penetrates a window frame just millimeters from where

the princess was sitting.

As the cars are removed for further examination,

it's realised that Princess Anne has had a very narrow escape.

March 21st, 1974.

The story of the attempt to kidnap Princess Anne now goes round the world.

While searching Ian Ball's car, police find a long, rambling letter he'd

addressed to the Queen, demanding a £3 million ransom for Anne's safe return.

He says the money should be in five -pound notes packed in a number of

cases, taken to London's Heathrow Airport in a police car, and put on a

bound for Zurich in Switzerland.

He wants the Queen to meet him on the plane and provide him with a sample

signature to prove her identity.

In addition, Ball demands a free pardon for any offence he might commit, from

parking to murder.

In conclusion, Ball chillingly states that unless his demands are met, he will

kill the princess.

The day after the attack, Ball is taken to Bow Street Magistrates' Court, where

he's charged with the attempted murder of Anne's personal detective, James

Beaton.

Surprisingly, he's not charged with anything directly regarding the

After a hearing lasting just two and a half minutes, he's remanded in custody.

Towards the end of May, Princess Anne visits Westminster Hospital, where the

injured in her defence, journalist Brian McConnell, Constable Michael Hills and

Inspector James Beaton, are still recovering from their injuries.

Later, Beaton recalls that fateful night in the mall, when... In trying to

protect his royal charge, Princess Anne, he came so very close to losing his own

life. I took my gun out to fire, and then Marr came down and I realised I'd

shot in the right shoulder.

And then I went behind the car and tried to get a two -handed method, and he'd

gone down and chatted my way back into the car.

So I got sort of between him and Princess Anne.

A subsequent Scotland Yard inquiry concluded that Paul had acted alone.

At his old Bailey trial, where he pleads guilty to attempted kidnap and murder,

it's revealed he's been diagnosed as a schizophrenic.

But this hadn't prevented him from planning his attack in meticulous

He's sentenced to life imprisonment.

and detained under the Mental Health Act at Broadmoor Hospital, where he remains

to this day.

In 1983, Ball writes a letter to the then Labour Member of Parliament for

East, James Lamond, claiming that the kidnap attempt had been no more than an

elaborate hoax, designed to get publicity for his autobiography.

He also claims that he'd been framed for the attack on Anne, and that he had

been physically assaulted while in custody.

In 2005, British government papers relating to the affair are released from

National Archives under the 30 -year rule.

In her own account given to officials at the time, Anne writes, It was all so

infuriating. I kept saying I didn't want to get out of the car, and I was not

going to get out of the car.

I nearly lost my temper with him, but I knew that if I did, I should hit him,

and he would shoot me.

Prime Minister Harold Wilton is clearly impressed, saying that Anne had behaved

with quite extraordinary courage and presence of mind.

At the top of the release document, he writes, A very good story.

Pity the palace can't let it come out.

Perhaps it will in court.

When he hears of the kidnap attempt, Anne's father, the Duke of Edinburgh, is

reported to have remarked, If the man had succeeded in abducting Anne, she

have given them a hell of a time in captivity.

Once they're fully recovered from their injuries, Royal Protection Officer

Inspector James Beaton and Constable Michael Hills are soon back on duty,

they join Detective Constable Peter Edmonds, who prevented Ian Ball's

Later, together with everyone else involved in the kidnap attempt, they're

invited to Buckingham Palace.

where they're thanked personally by the Queen and presented with awards for

gallantry.

Inspector Beaton, the most badly injured of them all, receives the George Cross,

the highest civilian award for bravery.

Hills and Russell get the George Medal, while Callander, McConnell and Edmonds

are given the Queen's Gallantry Medal.

They had thwarted the closest anyone has ever come to kidnapping a member of the

British royal family.

as well as shielding her from the flying bullets, which could have killed or

badly injured her at any time.

Ron Russell, who blocked Ball's car with his own, recalls how he felt when he

came on the scene.

One of shock and disbelief, but really to do my duty to

the Crown.

Princess Anne herself is made a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian

the Queen's personal order of chivalry.

Phillips is created a commander, and Lady Brassy becomes a member of the

Victorian Order.

The kidnap attempt throws the security of the royal family into sharp focus.

As it's realized how close Ball had come to succeeding in kidnapping Princess

Anne, the government orders an immediate and urgent review.

Before long, all royal protection officers are undergoing rigorous

the hands of the SAF at their Hereford HQ.

This includes armed and unarmed combat, as well as dealing with a hostage

situation.

Occasionally, even members of the royal family are included.

And because the Wolfram PP 9mm automatic pistol used by Inspector Beaton and his

bodyguard jammed when he needed it most, royal protection officers are now

issued with Smith & Wesson handguns instead.

There is no longer room for complacency, even though a female member of the

royal family has not been shot at since June 3rd, 1939, when a man fires a sawn

-off shotgun at the Duchess of Kent as she leaves her house in Belgrave Square,

London.

He misses, and it's not until hours later, when she returns, does the

hear she'd been the target of an assassin.

Much earlier, on March 2nd, 1882, A man named Roderick Maclean fires a pistol at

Queen Victoria, Anne's great -great -great -grandmother, while she's in her

carriage near Windsor Station.

But as he shoots, he's knocked off balance by two Eton schoolboys wielding

umbrellas. On June 13th, 1981, seven years after the attack on Princess Anne,

Marcus Sargent, an unemployed 17 -year -old youth, aimed six shots at her

mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

while she takes part in the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

He's firing blanks, but no -one realises it at the time.

The same thing happens to the Prince of Wales in Sydney, Australia, on January

26th, 1994, as he's about to make a speech on an open -air stage.

His assailant, student David Dang, is quickly overpowered.

He said he did it to draw attention to the plight of the Cambodian boat people.

Back in London, Prince Charles' sister, Princess Anne, gives her reaction to the

incident.

I think it's a permanent possibility, I'm afraid, and you just have to live

it.

Ironically, Brian McConnell, the journalist injured in the attempt to

Princess Anne, had, in 1969, written a book entitled Assassination.

In it, he states, to Britain, the fascination is a foreign word, a foreign

But never in his wildest dreams could McConnell have imagined that just five

years later, he would play a key role in thwarting the closest anyone has ever

come to kidnapping a leading member of the British royal family.

A shocking crime which could have ended in her death.

So it's not surprising that even today, Ian Ball, the perpetrator, remains

firmly locked away.