A newly disclosed FBI file details an assassination attempt on the late Queen Elizabeth II during her 1983 visit to California.
The threat came from a man seeking retaliation for his daughter’s death, which he claimed was due to a “rubber bullet” fired in Northern Ireland.
The FBI learned of the planned attack on February 4, 1983, a month before the queen’s scheduled visit with her late husband, Prince Philip.
According to the documents, which were made public on the FBI’s information website, The Vault, the man planned to harm the queen by dropping an object from the Golden Gate Bridge onto the royal yacht or attacking her during her visit to Yosemite National Park.
In response to the threat, the Secret Service arranged to close the Golden Gate Bridge’s walkways as the queen’s yacht passed beneath.
Despite the danger, the royal visit proceeded without any noted incidents.
Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth II faced numerous assassination attempts.
In December 2021, a man named Jaswant Singh Chail broke into Windsor Castle armed with a crossbow, declaring his intent to kill the queen in revenge for the 1919 Amritsar massacre in colonial India.
In February 2023, Chail pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to “injure the person of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, making threats to kill, and possessing an offensive weapon.”
