The man who tried to kidnap Princess Anne in 1974 and shot several people during the botched attempt now claims he’s innocent, six years after being released from psychiatric care.
Ian Ball, who goes by the alias Anthony Stewart, told the Daily Mail he believed Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter would be replaced by a double and that his bullets had been emptied of gunpowder before the attack in March 1974.
In the interview, the 77-year-old also accused the late queen of being the “ringleader” of a scheme that led to his wrongful imprisonment. “I’m an innocent, sane man,” he insisted.
Back in 1974, the then-26-year-old Ball chased Anne and her then-husband, Captain Mark Phillips, through central London in their limousine after a charity event. He cornered them near Buckingham Palace, forcing their car to stop.
During the struggle, he shot Anne’s bodyguard, chauffeur, a police officer, and a journalist. Famously, when Ball demanded she come with him, Anne reportedly snapped, “Not bloody likely!” A passing former heavyweight boxer, Ronnie Russell, intervened, punching Ball and subduing him.
Anne’s bodyguard, ex-Metropolitan Police inspector Jim Beaton, was awarded the George Cross after being shot three times while protecting her.
Ball, however, downplayed the incident, saying, “[Anne] wasn’t bothered on the night. I didn’t scare her. I was more scared than she was.”
He later pleaded guilty to attempted murder, attempted kidnap, and wounding, and was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. After 45 years in psychiatric hospitals, he was released in 2019.
Ball had hoped to extort £3 million from the queen, but now claims the whole thing was a publicity stunt to sell an autobiography. He alleges a supposed police officer named “Frank” helped him by swapping the bullets and the princess.
“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 told the Mail.
He also denied Anne’s famous retort, insisting she instead told him, “You just go away and nobody will think any more about it.”
Ball has since self-published a book about the incident, To Kidnap a Princess.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson stated that restricted patients can be recalled to hospital if their mental health deteriorates and they become a risk to the public.
Anne, who was 23 at the time, later said she was furious at Ball for the struggle and for ruining her favorite blue velvet dress. Her father, Prince Philip, joked that if the kidnapper had succeeded, Anne would have given him “a hell of a time in captivity.”
