PRINCESS ANNE

Princess Anne was flatly refusing to get out of the burgundy Rolls-Royce limousine etched with royal insignia. The gun pointed at her head did little to sway her steely determination. Instead, the princess locked eyes with the gunman and in her clipped English accent told him, quite simply, “Not bloody likely.”

Undeterred but likely quite perturbed by her boldness, the gunman, an unemployed labourer from North London called Ian Ball, then tried physical force, grabbing the princess’ arm before attempting to yank her out of the car. Her husband, Captain Mark Phillips, who was gripping her other arm, would later admit he was scared. But not the unflappable Princess Royal.

In fact, when her blue velvet dress, worn to that evening’s charity film screening, ripped in this human tug of war, she was furious. The 23-year-old princess, the only