F.B.I. Documents Detail 1983 Assassination Threat Against Queen Elizabeth II
A trove of documents released by the FBI this week details an assassination threat against Queen Elizabeth II ahead of her 1983 visit to the United States, as well as other security concerns linked to the Irish Republican Army. have gone
The documents were published on the FBI’s website following a Freedom of Information Act request. The Queen, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Died in September.
The plot to assassinate the Queen was shared with an officer of the San Francisco Police Department in early February 1983, weeks before she and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, were due to visit the United States. Show documents. Certain names and other details have been redacted from the report.
The unnamed officer said he received a call on February 4, 1983, from a man who claimed his daughter had been killed by a rubber bullet in Northern Ireland. The officer frequented an Irish pub called the Dover Club, which the FBI described as a meeting place for Irish Republican Army sympathizers.
The 1983 visit, like some of the Queen’s other visits to America, 30 Years of Sectarian Conflict in Northern Ireland known as problems. Around 3,600 people were killed during that period, as Britain deployed its army to the Protestant enclave to fight groups, including the IRA, who wanted to reunite Northern Ireland with the rest of Ireland.
The documents said the person on the phone call planned to harm the Queen by either “dropping an object from the Golden Gate Bridge onto the royal yacht Britannia” or by trying to kill her during a visit to Yosemite National Park. shared Specific details were not provided.
Officials noted that the Secret Service had planned to close the walkways over the Golden Gate Bridge while the yacht was nearby. While it is unclear if any arrests were made, the documents state that the King’s visit was completed “without incident”.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning.
The New York Times Covered the Queen’s West Coast tour. At the time, it was described as a glittering affair after a visit to President Ronald Reagan’s ranch in California. It was reported that the weather was bad. forced the royal couple to fly. Instead of traveling to the Bay Area, though, they attended a post-departure celebration.
the queen Its time has told It was “a wonderful and enjoyable trip” on the West Coast.
The documents also cited security concerns about the Queen’s other visits. Before his trip to Kentucky in 1989, the FBI said it was unaware of any specific threats against the king, but noted that “threats against the British monarchy have always existed from the Irish Republican Army.”
During another trip, in 1991, the Queen attended a Baltimore Orioles game with President George Bush. Before the trip, FBI officials took note of a letter published in an Irish newspaper in Philadelphia.
Officials said Irish groups were planning to protest against the Queen at the baseball game, and one Irish group had reserved a large block of tickets.
According to the Times, that night the Queen and others sat in the glass-fronted box reserved for the team owner. After greeting the players and before taking her seat, the Queen waved to the crowd, which erupted in cheers and applause.