Man seeking revenge for killing daughter in Northern Ireland in 1983 plots to kill queen

Queen Elizabeth faced an assassination attempt by Irish nationalist sympathizers during a 1983 visit to the United States, according to newly released FBI files.

Documents show how authorities repeatedly prepared for threats from Caretaker Ireland supporters. Republican Party The Army (IRA) came to light as a result of a Freedom of Information request filed after the Queen’s death last September.

The assassination plot was thwarted when police officers warned federal officials of a possible attack the night before the late Queen was due to arrive in San Francisco.

The incident involved an attempt to drop an “object” from the Golden Gate Bridge while the Royal Yacht Britannia was underway.

Over 100 pages of documents related to the late King were opened following an FOI request to the FBI.

The document also reveals:

• The FBI warned that it would be “extremely difficult” to avoid an “embarrassing” incident for the Queen during her travels.
• During the 1981 visit, there were also warnings of attacks by IRA sympathizers.
• FBI assesses IRA threat to British royal family as ‘always present’

Left to right, Prince Philip, Nancy Reagan, Queen Elizabeth II, Ronald Reagan, 1983

The officer, who tipped off authorities, told investigators he was an IRA sympathizer who regularly drank in Irish pubs and sought revenge for his daughter’s death.

It all started when a man she met in a pub in February called her and said, “My daughter was killed by a rubber bullet in Northern Ireland.”

The call came just over a month before then-President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan hosted the 57-year-old Queen and Prince Philip in California.

The memo about the attempted assassination reads, “This man also sought to harm Queen Elizabeth II by dropping any object or attempting to do so on the Royal Yacht Britannia as it sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. I argued that I would,” he said. To kill Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Yosemite National Park.

The document adds that the man in question was previously involved in a police investigation. He has been described as “generally supportive, although he does not hide his sympathy for the IRA.” [sic].

The documents also reveal that FBI agents had warned prior to the visit that “it would be very difficult to anticipate and prevent an incident that would embarrass either the Queen or the President.” .

Although perhaps the most serious of threats, it wasn’t the first time the FBI had warned of a possible attack on Her Majesty.

Two years ago, the FBI warned of “potential attacks” on her when she visited US cities with strong Irish ties, including Boston and New York.

Another document from 1989 stated that “the potential threat to the British monarchy by the Irish Republican Army always exists”.

“Boston and New York are urged to remain vigilant against any threats against Queen Elizabeth II by IRA members and to provide Louisville with similar information immediately,” it continued.

A police officer who informed authorities told investigators about an IRA sympathizer who regularly drank at an Irish pub and sought revenge for his daughter’s death.

Queen Elizabeth II (right) and Prince Philip (second from left) in Yosemite National Park in 1983.The second location he named as the site of the assassination

Queen Elizabeth visits the Hewlett-Packard factory in California, March 3, 1983

Queen Elizabeth II visiting the San Diego Institute of Oceanography in 1983

The Queen arrives in Santa Barbara, California, greeted by Presidents Ronald and Nancy Reagan, 1983

The documents also show that FBI agents had warned prior to the 1983 visit that “it would be very difficult to anticipate and prevent an incident that would embarrass either the Queen or the President.” has also clarified.

The 1983 plot wasn’t the only assassination plot in which the Queen (second from left) survived

A would-be assassin planned to drop an “object” from the Golden Gate Bridge as Queen Elizabeth’s ship sailed under it.

And in 1976, a New York pilot was summoned by police to stop her from holding a banner reading “England, get out of Ireland” while Queen Elizabeth II was in the city.

The frequent concerns of US officials and the royal family themselves were not without foundation. The Queen’s second cousin, Lord Mountbatten, was famously killed in an IRA bombing in 1979.

He and three others died when his fishing boat was filled with explosives and then exploded.

Other victims were Mountbatten’s grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, crewman Paul Maxwell, Nicholas’ paternal grandmother Doreen, and the Queen Mother of Brabourne.

There have been previous assassination attempts against the Queen, making the IRA’s threat even stronger.

In 1981, a New Zealand teenager opened fire on Her Majesty the Queen as she stepped out of her car.

Christopher John Lewis fired his rifle during the Queen’s domestic visit, but it missed. But soon he became obsessed with the idea of ​​wiping out the royal family.

Two years later, he tried to overwhelm the guards at the psychiatric hospital where he was being held to kill Prince Charles, who was staying in New Zealand with Princess Diana and Prince William.

Lord Mountbatten was assassinated in 1979 in an IRA conspiracy that killed him and three others.

Lord Mountbatten died in 1979 when an explosive device exploded on his boat (photographed in 1975)

In that year’s Trooping of the Color, anti-royal extremists fired six blank shots at the Queen.

She came out unscathed again from an attempt carried out by 17-year-old Marcus Sarjanto.

He was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison for terrorism charges, but served only three times, during which time he wrote to Queen Elizabeth II apologizing for his actions.

and in 1970 A conspiracy uncovered in Australia After the train she and Prince Philip were on crashed into a log on the tracks.

Luckily, the train driver noticed the log and slowed down enough to keep the train from derailing, but former Superintendent Superintendent Cliff McHardy said in 2009 that the log was intentionally placed after an investigation. He concluded that there is.

Had the driver not seen the log, the train might have derailed and the King and Queen fell into a deep embankment below.