Queen Elizabeth Was Nearly Shot and Afterward She Just Smiled

Queen Elizabeth
Horse Racing - Royal Ascot - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain Reuters Pictures

Newsweek published this story under the headline "BRITAIN: Her Majesty's Moment of Fear" on June 22, 1981. In light of recent events involving the queen, Newsweek is republishing the story.

The young man stepped out of the crowd, took aim at the Queen of England and fired. To a world stunned by assassination attempts this year on President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, the next few moments were painfully familiar: someone screams, police scuffle with the gunman, onlookers turn to one another in shock. But this time there was no bloodshed. The Queen, riding on horseback through London to ceremonies marking her 55th birthday, suffered nothing more than a few moments of fright--precisely what her assailant said he had intended. His gun fired only blanks.

Police did not take the incident lightly. They immediately arrested 17-year-old Marcus Sarjeant, who had reportedly waited for hours for the monarch to appear, and charged him under the Treason Act of 1842--a provision that carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison; Sarjeant is scheduled to appear in magistrates court this week. There has been particular concern about the safety of the royal family since a bomb exploded last month while Queen Elizabeth was touring an oil terminal in the Shetland Islands. No one was injured, but Irish Republican Army guerrillas eagerly claimed responsibility for the blast.

Although the Queen recovered quickly from Saturday's episode, witnesses said she looked badly shaken at first. "Her majesty seemed very, very scared," said a woman in the crowd. "I saw a look of fear pass over her face." After the blanks were fired, the Queen's horse reared and darted ahead; Elizabeth, who was wearing a scarlet military tunic and black riding skirt, soon brought him under control. In a few minutes the procession continued down the Mall, a tree-lined thoroughfare leading from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square in central London. Queen Elizabeth looked at the crowd--and smiled.

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