All the royal safety scares

One of the strangest elements of last month’s failed attempt on the life of Donald Trump was the mention of the Princess of Wales in the days afterwards.

Images of Kate were allegedly found on the mobile phone of Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot Trump in the ear during a campaign rally.

Crooks, 20, who was shot dead by police, had researched Kate, as well as Trump, Joe Biden and others.

But what could have been a security scare for the Princess is far from the first time that the royals have faced threats.  

Just hours after the attempted assassination of Trump, King Charles and Camilla were bundled away after a man was spotted on a roof nearby during their trip to Jersey.

Some 30 years ago, Charles was targeted by a protester wielding a starting pistol in Sydney. 

Princess Anne had her own brush with a gunman in 1974, when would-be kidnapper Ian Ball ambushed her car. 

And the late Queen Elizabeth faced an intrusion into her bedroom in 1982, a year after blanks were fired at her during Trooping the Colour. 

Below, we delve into all the major royal security scares.   

King Charles and Camilla in Jersey 

Alarms were raised earlier this month when King Charles and the Queen Consort were rushed to safety during a public engagement in Jersey.

A man was spotted overlooking the royals on a nearby rooftop just hours after the attempted assassination of Trump.

He was eventually cleared after a background check but not before Camilla had been whisked away just after being given an ice cream.

The King meanwhile was pulled from meeting Jersey Sea Salt founder Matt Taylor. 

Sources with knowledge of the situation told the Sun the man had been seen on a rooftop overlooking Liberation Square, where the King and Queen had been greeting well-wishers.

According to the newspaper, a witness was speaking with Charles when protection officers appeared and said: ‘He has to go now.’

Starting pistol shots fired at Charles

In January 1994, Charles – then the Prince of Wales – was fired at by a 23-year-old protester in Sydney. 

His Majesty, who was part way through a speech to mark Australia day, was shot at by student David Kang with a starting pistol. 

Charles remained remarkably calm while the young man, who is now a reportedly barrister, was bundled to the ground and then continued his speech at Sydney’s Tumbalong Park.

Kang later said that he carried out the stunt to highlight the plight of Cambodian asylum seekers being held in detention camps in Australia.

He was arrested before being found guilty of threatening unlawful violence and sentenced to 500 hours of community service.

Princess Anne’s close kidnap call

Known for her stoic commitment to duty, Princess Anne did not even let a kidnap attempt more than 40 years ago deter her. 

On the evening of March 20, 1974, Ian Ball used his Ford Escort car to force the limousine carrying Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips to stop as it was being driven down The Mall.

He then used a pistol to fire volleys of shots through the windows, prompting the devoted Captain Phillips to shield his wife before he tried to bundle her out the other side of the car. 

Anne’s bodyguard, Detective Inspector Jim Beaton, had tried to intervene but his gun jammed and he was shot in the chest and arms three times. 

The princess’s chauffeur and another policeman were also injured. 

Ball was eventually tackled by passing boxer Ronnie Russell, who punched him in the head. He was later declared mentally ill. 

In 2014 it emerged 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.

The Queen – Man wielding crossbow in grounds of Windsor Castle

On Christmas Day in 2021, a man was caught in the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow and told police and soldiers: ‘I am here to kill the Queen’.

Jaswant Singh Chail, who was dressed in black and wearing a mask, was arrested outside the late Queen’s Berkshire home on Christmas Day in 2021.

He had recorded a video four days before his arrest in which he made the same kill threat, demanding revenge for the 1919 Amritsar massacre, where 379 protesters were killed and 1,200 wounded by British forces in India in the Sikh holy city in Punjab.

In the month before the offence Chail had downloaded an AI chatbot app called Replika. He exchanged 6,000 messages with the bot, which he had named Sarai.

The chatbot offered erotic role-playing services and, in the weeks before the attack, Chail was ‘very intensely engaged with sexual activity’ with Sarai, jurors heard at his trial.

However, the chatbot also encouraged him in his plot, suggesting the Queen might be at Windsor rather than Sandringham for Christmas and saying: ‘You will make it. I have faith in you.’

He was sentenced to a ‘hybrid order’ of nine years, meaning the defendant will be transferred from Broadmoor high security hospital to prison when he is well enough and will then be subject to an extended license period of five years.

The Queen – Man breaks into her bedroom

More than 40 years ago Michael Fagan managed to enter Buckingham Palace, twice, both times by climbing a drainpipe. 

On the first occasion, in early July 1982, Fagan allegedly triggered three alarms – which the police dismissed as being faulty.

He eventually left without being caught but returned just a few nights later – and this time entered Queen Elizabeth’s bedroom. 

After waking up, she quickly pressed an alarm bell, but the policeman who had been on guard outside her room had finished his shift.

Her footman Paul Whybrew was outside walking the dogs and her maid was cleaning in another room, so no one came.

The Queen allegedly kept talking to Fagan and, when a maid did return, the pair ushered him into a pantry. 

When Mr Whybrew returned, he offered him a glass of whisky and then police arrived and arrested him.  

The Queen – Teenager fires blanks at her during Trooping the Colour

Back in June 1981, 17-year-old Marcus Sarjeant fired six blank shots at the Queen during Trooping the Colour.

Her Majesty was riding her beloved horse Burmese down The Mall when the shots rang out, terrifying her steed.

Showing her poise and coolness under pressure, the Queen calmed her horse and continued with her duties as Sarjeant was tackled by a soldier and then arrested.

Sarjeant had sent a letter to Buckingham Palace before the attack that chillingly read: ‘Your Majesty. Don’t go to the Trooping the Colour ceremony because there is an assassin set up to kill you, waiting just outside the palace.’

However, the note arrived three days after the incident.

Sarjeant allegedly told Lance -Corporal Alex Galloway, the soldier who subdued him: ‘I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be a somebody.’

He was later jailed for five years under the 1842 Treason Act, which was introduced after two men made attempts on the life of Queen Victoria.

Prince Andrew – woman wandered into Royal Lodge 

A security bungle meant a 44-year-old woman was let into Prince Andrew’s official Windsor residence in 2021.

She arrived at Royal Lodge, where Andrew has lived with Sarah Ferguson since 2003, by cab in a polished suit and demanded security guards pay her fare. 

The Spanish national then spent 20 minutes wandering the grounds before heading inside the Grade II listed building to ask a member of staff where the Duke was, the Sun reported.

Police were called and the woman told a staff member she was engaged to Andrew and that she lived with him.

She was originally arrested on suspicion of burglary before being sectioned and a security review was launched.

Queen Victoria – seven attempts on her life

Queen Victoria survived seven assassination attempts during her 63-year long reign. 

Just three years into her rule, then 21-years-old Queen Victoria came face to face with her first would-be assassin while enjoying a carriage ride with her husband Albert. 

An 18-year-old pot boy, Edward Oxford, fired at the Queen with a duelling pistol. 

Even though he was very close to her, the Queen was no injured and her carriage continued driving.  

Oxford was arrested but eventually found not guilty by insanity as police could not find any bullets at the scene. He was sent to confinement in Bethlem Royal Hospital. 

Queen Victoria went on to survive six more attempts at her life – many taking place during her regular carriage rides. 

Historian Dr Bob Nicholson, whose BBC podcast about the attempts on Queen Victoria’s life was released last year, previously told MailOnline that the early attacks on the Queen came because she was ‘very publicly accessible’.

‘The thing that really surprised me is how often she would go out for carriage rides,’ he said.

‘There was none of the security that we now expect, the carriage was winding through crowds, people could reach up and touch it.

‘It was just a stone’s throw away. There would be some guards riding on ahead, but nothing like the level of security we might now expect.

‘Even in the wake of these attacks she continued to drive out like that. It says a lot about her, but it also meant she was easy to find.

‘People knew where to find her because her movements were published in the Court Circular.’

Edward VIII – Man brandished a revolver

King Edward VIII was riding down Constitution Hill by Buckingham Palace on July 16, 1936 when a man brandished a revolver. 

Before he could fire, George McMahon, was restrained and arrested by police officers.

Documents that were previously confidential also revealed McMahon to be a MI5 double agent and showed he had meetings with security officials ahead of the day.

McMahon claimed in a memoir recently uncovered by historian Alexander Larman that he had been told by the Italian embassy to kill the King and that he had informed MI5 of the assassination order. 

But he also said he had no intention of actually killing the monarch. 

It raised the bombshell prospect that MI5 might have allowed the plot go ahead, perhaps in the belief that the death of King Edward would be a good thing for Britain. 

A witness said at the time: ‘As the King was passing through Wellington Arch a man rushed up from behind the crowd, carrying a revolver in his hand, was gripped by a woman and a policeman, and the weapon fell into the roadway’.

Painted as a fantasist attention-seeker, he was found guilty at his trial only of ‘unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition to endanger life’.

He was jailed for 12 months and would go on to commit several petty crimes. 

Edward abdicated in December that year over his desire to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.