On March 20, 1974, Princess Anne was 23 years old and reveling in her life as a newlywed, having married Captain Mark Phillips four months earlier.
The couple had spent the evening at a charity fundraiser and were on their way to Buckingham Palace when, without warning, their lives took a near-fatal turn.
Anne, Mark, her lady-in waiting, chauffeur Alexander Callender and Royal Protection Officer Inspector James Wallace Beaton, were less than 200 metres from the palace, when a white Ford Escort overtook their car and stopped, blocking their path.
Inspector Beaton, a member of Scotland Yard’s special operations branch, described the moment he first laid eyes on the princess’ would-be kidnapper, Ian Ball.
“I got out of the car, and he shot at me,” Inspector Beaton told the BBC.…