Newly launched paperwork from the FBI reveal that there was a possible menace to assassinate Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II throughout her journey to the U.S. over 40 years in the past.
The late Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, was scheduled to go to the U.S. along with her husband, Prince Philip, in 1983. Greater than 100 pages of paperwork launched by the FBI on Tuesday define a severe menace made forward of that journey and security considerations that got here up in different visits the queen made to the U.S.
The paperwork, which had been posted publicly on the FBI’s web site after a Freedom of Data Act request by NBC Information, reveal that an unidentified San Francisco police officer obtained a tip in regards to the potential plot to assassinate the queen on Feb. 4, 1983 — just some weeks earlier than the royal couple was scheduled to reach within the U.S.
In keeping with the paperwork, a person mentioned that he was going to “try to hurt Queen Elizabeth II,” and that he supposed to attempt to kill her both whereas she was at Yosemite Park or “by dropping some object off the Golden Gate Bridge onto the Royal Yacht Britannia when it sails beneath.”
The paperwork didn’t embody data on whether or not any arrests had been made following the menace.
The person claimed that his daughter had been killed in Northern Eire by a rubber bullet, in response to the paperwork.
The 1983 journey to the U.S. occurred throughout a decadeslong interval of sectarian battle in Northern Eire generally known as the Troubles. Throughout this era, the unionists, most of whom had been Protestants, wished Northern Eire to stay inside the UK, whereas the nationalists, lots of whom had been Irish Catholics, and the Irish Republican Military wished it to hitch the remainder of Eire.
The British deployed its army to Northern Eire in the course of the bloody battle, which lasted for 30 years till a peace settlement was signed in 1998.
The FBI intently monitored the queen’s visits to the U.S. through the years with the assistance of the U.S. Secret Service, and safety continued to be a priority.
“Whereas [the FBI] is unaware of any particular threats in opposition to the Queen, the opportunity of menace in opposition to the British monarchy is everpresent from the Irish Republican Military,” the FBI wrote in a single doc forward of the queen’s 1989 go to to Kentucky.
Throughout one other go to in 1991, Irish teams organized protests at a baseball recreation and White Home occasion the place the queen was scheduled to seem, in response to a doc.
The FBI cited an article revealed in Irish Version, a Philadelphia newspaper, that said “anti-British emotions are working excessive” forward of her journey.
The doc added that whereas there have been no threats in opposition to the queen or the president, who would even be attending the occasions, the statements “might be considered as being inflammatory.”