Ian Ball, the gunman who attempted to kidnap Princess Anne in 1974, has claimed he is innocent nearly six years after his release from a secure hospital. Ball, now 77, was released from Broadmoor Hospital on probation in 2019 and has since self-published an autobiographical novel titled To Kidnap A Princess.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Ball said: “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 added that the princess “wasn’t bothered on the night.”
Ball attempted to abduct Anne and her then-husband Captain Mark Phillips as they were driven along The Mall to Buckingham Palace on March 20, 1974. When Ball told her to “come with me for a day or two” because he wanted £2 million, she replied: “not bloody likely, and I haven’t got £2 million.”
Ball pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey in May 1974 to charges of attempted murder and attempted kidnap and was detained without time limit under the Mental Health Act. He had blocked the princess’s car with his own and fired shots through the rear window, wounding her bodyguard, chauffeur, a police constable, and a journalist.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Restricted patients can be recalled back to hospital if their mental health deteriorates to such a level that the risk they pose becomes unmanageable in the community.” Anne later said she was “furious at this man who was having a tug of war with me” for ripping her favourite blue velvet dress.
