How tug of war saved Princess

Press, 16 April 1982, Page 8

How tug of war saved Princess

NZPA London A dramatic account of a gunman’s attempt to kidnap Princess Annh eight years ago is given by the Princess's husband, Captain Mark Phillips, in a book published yesterday. Captain Phillips concludes of the kidnap attempt in the Mall near Buckingham Palace by lan Ball, aged 26, now held indefinitely in Broadmoor jail for the criminally insane: “If there had been more than one person involved they would have succeeded without any shadow of doubt.” The Royal couple were returning to Buckingham Palace after a public engagement when the gunman overtook and forced their car to stop. Captain Phillips describes how no-one in the Royal car, even the. Princess’s personal bodyguard, Detective Inspector James Beaton, suspected they were dealing with anything more serious than a "bolshie” motorist. Mr Beaton and the chauffeur were shot and injured, and the gunman threw open the rear door of the limousine. Captain Phillips says: “It

may sound funny, but we were saying to him: ‘Look, go away, we aren’t coming with you, so get in your car and forget about it.’ “We just kept talking and talking, trying to keep things on a reasonably sane level, knowing that sooner or later the police would, arrive.”

After a few minutes Mr .Beaton got back in the car and, though badly -injured, put himself between the gunman and the Princess, only to be shot a second time.

“At that point the gunman stopped. being passively reasonable and started to get desperate. ■ . " . “He at Princess Anrie and tried to pull her out of the car. But I hung'on to her, so for a while she was in the middle of a tug of war.”

Another policeman who arrived on the. scene was also shot, and in that split second the gunman loosened his grip on the Princess.

Captain Phillips was able to drag.her back into the car and slam the door.

"Both of us were hanging on to the door, still talking and talking, saying over and over; Go away, get in your

car and no-one will say anything’,” he adds.

But the worst moment came when help finally arrived.

“That was the most frightening moment. I • reallythought that was it. Up until then he’d been waving the gun about and threatening us, but while we’d been talking and arguing we’d managed to keep things on a reasonable level.

“But then, suddenly, we were surrounded by police cars and flashing blue lights and it was a bit like cornering an animalr-there was no escape for. Kin and; at. that, moment I really-thought we' • might have been’shot.” However the gunman was overpowered by the police. Captain Phillips still finds it amazing that the incident lasted so long. "People were driving past, walking along the pavement, standing on the other side of the road, watching while there were men lying halfdead in the middle of the road—but nobody actually called the police,” he says. “Everyone realised that if there had been more than one person involved they

would' have succeeded without any shadow of doubt." Captain Phillips says that it did occur to him afterwards that "perhaps I should have put one between the chap’s eyes and tried to disarm him—done a sort of John Wayne or James Bond.”

But with three men already gunned down, it was not a practical solution.

He adds: "So, as it was, I didn’t panic, I don’t feel as though I did anything particularly brave—but I didn’t do anything particularly stupid either which might have made things worse.”

■■■The account is given in “Mark Phillips, the Man and His Horses,” by a former 8.8. C. TV newsreader, Angela Rippon. Miss Rippon also relates how Captain Phillips “acted the perfect gentleman” when press reports alleged they were having an affair while she was researching the book.

Seeing her total embarrassment, he made a joke of it and laughed off rumours that his marriage was in trouble, Miss Rippon says in the book.

“Once again, investigation

proved it to be nothing more than a collection of halftruths, lies and innuendo invented by a ’hack’ who was handsomely paid for his ‘exclusive’ by the Australian press,” she writes.

“It was all very, very unpleasant. The story was a pack of lies /and I was terribly embarrassed. “As a professional journalist I had worked.very hard to get a good working relationship with Captain Phillips and suddenly these stories were putting the whole project in jeopardy. It could have been disastrous.

“I felt very bad about it but fortunately Captain Phillips was a perfect gentleman and made a joke about it the next time I spoke to him. “It could have been very awkward, but we all knew that the whole thing was totally untrue so we had nothing to feel guilty about.” Miss Rippon spent two years working on the book, staying at the Royal couple’s Gloucestershire home, Gatcombe Park, and joining them when they went out riding. ’XX' -'