A hero no more? Why princess Anne's kidnapping saviour must give up his medal
The man who aided in helping Princess Anne from being kidnapped has been forced to give up a medal he received in recognition of his incredible bravery over 46 years ago.
The Queen’s daughter was only 23 at the time and on her way to Buckingham Palace after s charity event when her car was suddenly cut off in the middle of the road by another vehicle.
Jumping out of a car, stepped Ian Ball, gun in hand, who proceeded to shoot the royal's chauffeur and security officer before telling Princess Anne she had to go with him.
In a 1980s interview about the kidnapping attempt, the Royal Princess revealed she took a surprisingly no-nonsense approach with her attacker.
"He opened the door, and we had a sort of discussion, hah, about where or where not we were going to go," she admitted calmly in the interview as she recalled details.
"He said I had to go with him, can't remember why. I said I didn't think I wanted to go. I was scrupulously polite, because I thought 'it's silly to be too rude'.
"We had a fairly low-key discussion about the fact that I wasn't going to go anywhere, and wouldn't it be much better if he moved away and we'd all forget about it?"
Interestingly enough, Princess Anne was not rude until Ball accidentally tore her gown when she was stepping out of the vehicle and Anne got angry.
However, he was not forced to face the wrath of the royal as out of nowhere, 6'4 former boxer Ronald Russell took a swing at the back of Ball's head and distracted him.
Ball took off running as more police arrived and was later arrested in part thanks to Russell's well-timed punch.
Princess Anne left the incident without a scratch on her and Russell was later awarded the George Medal from bravery by the Queen, who was beyond grateful that her daughter was safe.
"The medal is from the Queen, but I want to thank you as Anne's mother," Her Majesty told Russell as she presented him with the medal.
Sadly, 46 years later Russell is being forced to let go of the medal, something he said he “would never ever do”.
Following years of declining health, the 72-year-old has decided to sell the royal memento, which could go for as much as $38,000.
However, he has a simple request for the person who buys the keepsake.
"What I would like is whoever does eventually buy the medal, I would hope they might invite me somewhere to tell them about what happened on the night," he told the BBC.
Russell recalled Princess Anne remained calm and collected when Ball confronted the royal with a gun, telling her assailant: "Just go away and don't be such a silly man."
Moments later Russell made a move to protect the princess, and squared up against Ball despite the danger he’d be putting himself in.
"Ball stood there glaring at me with the gun and I hit him," Russell said.
"I hit him as hard as I could, and he was flat on the floor face down."