She’s the no-nonsense royal who is cherished by Brits.
And Princess Anne has emerged as the most popular of all the Royal Family in a recent YouGov poll, beating the Prince and Princess of Wales to top spot.
Yet many have now forgotten that the 72-year-old Princess Royal almost lost her life in an attempted kidnapping by a crazed gunman.
It is nearly half a century since the terrifying episode on the evening of March 20, 1974.
Crazed gunman Ian Ball used his Ford Escort car to force the limousine carrying a then-23-year-old Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips to stop as it was being driven down The Mall to Buckingham Palace.
He used a pistol to fire volleys of shots through the Austin limo windows, prompting Captain Phillips to shield his wife before he attempted to bundle her out the other side of the car to safety.
The Daily Mail’s coverage of the attempted kidnap attempt in March 1974
The aftermath of Ian Ball’s attempt to kidnap Princess Anne, on The Mall, London, on 20 March 1974. Ball’s white Ford Escort is parked blocking the path of the Princess’s Princess IV limousine
Anne’s horrific ordeal was recreated by ITV in film To Kidnap a Princess
Anne’s police bodyguard, Detective Inspector Jim Beaton tried to intervene but his gun, a Walther PP, jammed and he was shot three times in the chest and arms.
While trying to stop Ball, a further three people were shot – including Anne’s chauffeur and another policeman.
Ball told Anne he was going to kidnap her and ordered her to get out of the car, reportedly saying: ‘Please, come out… You’ve got to come.’
She is said to have replied ‘Not bloody likely,’ part of an exchange she later described as ‘very irritating’.
And the princess finally ‘lost her rag’ when her dress was ripped in the melee.
Ball was stopped when he was bundled to the ground by officer Peter Edmonds after being punched in the head by passing former boxer Ronnie Russell, who had led Anne to safety.
Whilst Ball was later declared to be mentally ill, it emerged in 2014 that he had claimed in police interviews that ‘one good thing’ to come out of his ‘audacious’ crime was that officials would ‘have to improve’ Anne’s protection.
Speaking on ITV’s Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, the royal recalled: ‘What is interesting is what you remember and how you remember it, because although I thought I remembered everything that happened I would never have been able to swear I could remember in the right order.
‘Because they were like photos, individual snapshots. Very clearly.’
Anne confessed that she had previously thought about how she would react if someone attempted to kidnap her.
She said: ‘One thing about horses and sport is you have to prepare for the unexpected and you’ve got to think through the problems that are likely to occur’.
Princess Anne and her then husband Captain Mark Phillips together in 1974. They were divorced in 1992
Under heavy security precautions, Ian Ball, then 26, is led in handcuffs from police van to court
A witness, named as Miss Sammy Scott, told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘I could see Princess Anne and Mark huddled in the back of the car’
The kidnap attempt took place at around 8.30pm. The Queen’s daughter accompanied by her husband, whom she had married the previous year, had been on their way back to Buckingham Palace after attending a charity film screening.
Inside the car with the couple was Anne’s lady-in-waiting Rowena Brassey, while chauffeur Alex Callender was at the wheel.
Ball had followed Anne’s car down The Mall and overtook it opposite Clarence House before braking sharply to force the limousine to stop.
He then got out and began shooting as he tried to get into the car.
A witness, named as Miss Sammy Scott, told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘I could see Princess Anne and Mark huddled in the back of the car.
The bid to kidnap Princess Anne was the front page story in the Daily Mail the following day. A witness described the moment she saw DI Beaton collapse after being shot
‘They were on the opposite side to the gunman. Suddenly, I saw a man fall down in front of me. He had been shot. He was covered in blood. He lay on the pavement.
‘Another man, a detective I suppose, came running up. I said to him: “This man has been shot, why doesn’t he go to hospital?”
‘The detective looked at me for a moment and then said: “So have I”. He opened his jacket and I could see blood pouring from his shoulder. Then he also collapsed.’
DI Beaton, who is now in his 70s, was shot immediately as he tried to intervene, meaning that he missed when he fired his first and only round before his gun jammed.
He was then shot twice more when he instead opted to try to use his body to protect Anne and her husband
He later explained how security measures have changed since the incident. He said: ‘I had nothing.
‘There was no back-up vehicle. The training was non-existent; but then again, we thought nothing was going to happen. They are highly specialised now, highly trained.’
The Princess Royal chatting to her bodyguard, Inspector James Beaton, after he was injured during Ian Ball’s attempt to kidnap her
Ball was finally stopped when he was bundled to the ground by officer Peter Edmonds after being punched in the head by passing former boxer Ronnie Russell (pictured), who had led Anne to safety
Brian McConnell, a journalist who had been following the couple, also tried to intervene to stop Ball and was shot in the chest. Chauffeur Mr Callender was also shot.
The passing former boxer Mr Russell, who won the George Medal for his bravery efforts, led the princess to safety before hitting the gunman twice in the head.
When PC Michael Hills came across the situation, he too was shot after calling for backup and then trying to intervene.
When support arrived in the form of Detective Constable Peter Edmonds, Ball was finally arrested.
Although DI Beaton, PC Hills, Mr Callender and Mr McConnell were hospitalised, all recovered and were able to continue their careers.
Princess Anne, Captain Mark Phillips (left) and Queen Elizabeth with a group of guests including Inspector James Beaton (third from left), and former boxer Ronnie Russell (right) after they helped to foil the kidnap attempt
As well as Mr Russell’s award, DI Beaton was awarded the George Cross by the Queen, whilst PC Hills was also handed the George Medal.
Speaking in 1984 about the ordeal to chat show host Michael Parkinson, Anne said she had been ‘scrupulously polite’ to her attacker, because it would have been ‘silly to be too rude at that stage’ but said she lost her temper when he ripped her dress.
Ball went on to plead guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping and is still imprisoned at Broadmoor Hospital under the Mental Health Act.
The excuses Ball made in his police interview were revealed after the Mail on Sunday won a seven-month Freedom of Information battle. They had only been due to be released in 2048.
The would-be kidnapper told police that he had believed Anne would be an easy target. He said he had learned of her movements by phoning the Buckingham Palace press office.
He said: ‘I had thought about it for years… She would have been the easiest. I have seen her riding with her husband.’
The files also revealed Ball showed no remorse for shooting three men.
Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips are seen at an engagement the week after the kidnap attempt
He said: ‘They were getting in my way so I had to shoot them. Well, the police, that’s their job. They expect to be shot. I took a chance of getting shot so why shouldn’t they?’
Ball had planned to take the Princess to a Central London property which he had rented under an alias, and to demand a ransom of £3 million – the equivalent of £26 million today.
Detectives initially feared Ball was part of the IRA but he told officers: ‘I have got no friends. I’m a loner. I put a lot of thought and work into it.
‘I can’t expect people like you to understand or accept that I did it and planned it alone. Do you think I am part of the IRA or something? If there had been anyone else they would have helped me at the scene.’
He also told police: ‘I knew [Beaton] would be armed. If his gun had not jammed, I would be dead.’
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