Teenager’s Brazen Attempt to Assassinate Queen Elizabeth II During Trooping the Colour Parade
It’s been almost three years since Queen Elizabeth II passed away, but a shocking incident from 41 years ago has come back into focus. On June 13, 1981, a teenager fired six blank shots at the Queen as she rode her horse down The Mall during the Trooping the Colour parade. The would-be assassin, 17-year-old Marcus Sarjeant, had travelled to London from Folkestone, Kent, with the intent to kill the Queen.
According to a report by Metro, Sarjeant had joined an anti-royalist movement in 1980 and was unemployed and living with his mum when he decided to take drastic action. In the days leading up to the parade, he had sent a threatening letter to Buckingham Palace reading: "Your Majesty. Don’t go to the Trooping the Colour ceremony because there is an assassin set up to kill you, waiting just outside the palace." However, the letter didn’t arrive until days after the parade, meaning the Queen was unaware of any threat when she mounted her horse that day.
The incident made headlines around the world, with the Queen visibly shaken as her horse, Burmese, was spooked by the gunfire. Metro reported that Sarjeant had armed himself with two blank-firing replica Colt Python revolvers and positioned himself near the junction between The Mall and Horseguards Road. He was tackled to the ground by Lance Corporal Alec Galloway of the Scots Guards and disarmed. As he was being subdued, Sarjeant said: "I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be somebody."
Sarjeant told police he was inspired by the assassination of John Lennon and the attempted murders of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II in the same year. He was prosecuted under the Treason Act and pleaded guilty, before being sentenced to five years in prison on September 14, 1981. According to Metro, he was released in October 1984, when he was 20, and changed his name to begin a new life. He wrote to the Queen to apologise for the incident but did not receive a reply.
The Queen often rode her horse Burmese during the Trooping the Colour ceremony, and it was a gift from the Canadian Royal Mounted Police. This was not the first time the Queen had been at the centre of an assassination attempt. In 1971, a log was placed on railroad tracks in hopes of derailing the Queen’s train as she travelled through Australia. Luckily, the conductor saw the log and stopped the train before disaster struck.
In the aftermath of the incident, Sarjeant’s grandmother Sylvia told the Mail: "I love the Royal Family – every one of them, especially the Queen and the Queen Mother, and I am heartbroken that my grandson should be charged with something like this." The incident was a stark reminder of the risks that the Royal Family face on a daily basis, and the bravery of those who protect them.
For more information on this story and others like it, visit Metro.
