Princess Anne has delivered so many memorable lines in her life but it doesn’t come much more no-nonsense than when she was at the centre of a terrifying kidnap plot in 1974. When she’s on royal duties Princess Anne has security and given the expertise of the royal protection officers, it’s astonishing how close she came to being abducted on her way home to Buckingham Palace from a charity event.
After her protection officer, driver and a journalist passing by who’d come to their aid were all wounded by Ian Ball, her would-be-kidnapper, Princess Anne kept cool, calm and collected. She might have only been 23 years old at the time, but she refused point blank to go with Ball.
When he apparently told her to get out of the car and that he wanted £2 million in ransom money, she responded, "Not b***** likely! And I haven’t got £2 million."
Princess Anne knew that getting out of the car wasn’t a clever move and her iconic remark showcased both her nerves of steel and her determination. As per British Vogue, the King’s sister later recalled how she’d started off being "scrupulously polite" to Ball.
In an interview with the late Michael Parkinson in 1980, she recalled that she’d thought "it was silly to be too rude at that stage". She later re-assessed this view when he split the back of her dress, which led to her "[losing] her rag".
This wasn’t the only time the Princess has reflected upon the kidnapping attempt and in 2020 she explained in the documentary, Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, that her equestrian skills helped her to react so quickly to the events unfolding around her.
"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. I suppose that was the discipline which to some extent coloured my thought process," she declared.
Ball was arrested at the scene by police and spent decades in Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, though earlier this month the Daily Mail reported he had been released in 2019. He is said to be asserting his innocence.
"I'm an innocent, sane man because I had good reason to believe the gunpowder had been taken out of the bullets and another girl had been substituted for Princess Anne," he claimed.
Princess Anne’s response when facing such an ordeal is nonetheless incredibly admirable - and very *her*. She’s had so many memorable quips over the years, including her comment that although she’s aware what Twitter (now known as X) is "I wouldn’t go anywhere near it if you paid me, frankly."
On Anne: The Princess Royal at 70 she also shared her astonishment at how it could possibly have taken The Crown’s hair department so long to create her signature updo on actor Erin Doherty.
"Actually I read an article the other day - I don't watch Netflix and The Crown - but the actress was talking about how long it took them to do her hair like I did, and I’m thinking, ‘How could it possibly take that long?’ I mean, it takes me 10 or 15 minutes,” she said.
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