Though most of the members of the royal family have a staff of protection officers giving them 24-hour security, usually the public doesn’t hear about the actual threats they face. One major exception to that was the 1974 kidnapping attempt made on Princess Anne, when a mentally ill man attempted to force the princess out of her vehicle; even then, the full story wasn’t made public until 2005.
Last week a more recent threat against Anne emerged in a Cheltenham court hearing, according to a report in The Telegraph. On Friday a 35-year-old Minchinhampton man named James Ballinger was sentenced to 12 months’ probation. On February 27, he made a series of threatening calls to 999, the British emergency dispatch number, claiming that Anne was “controlling his mind by moving his satellites,” the prosecutor claimed. Later that day Ballinger was found at Gatcombe Park, her Cotswolds home. He was unarmed. While Ballinger was out of custody awaiting a court date, he again made a threat against Anne’s life last Wednesday. During his hearing via video, he admitted his comments were “grossly offensive and menacing,” according to the newspaper.
As part of his probation, Ballinger will also attend a program for mental health and alcohol issues. “He does not remember making the original call to the police in February,” said Lee Mott, Ballinger’s defense attorney. “When the 999 call was played back to him he agreed that the voice was his and that he had said some horrible things. He said he was sorry he had threatened Princess Anne.” He is also banned from entering Gatcombe Park for the next six months.
Since the U.K. went on coronavirus lockdown in March, Anne has been staying at Gatcombe Park, and released stills of her video engagements have shown off some of the ornate details in her sitting room. The house and larger estate were purchased for Anne in 1976 after she married her first husband, Mark Phillips. Zara Tindall, Anne’s daughter, and her husband, Mike, also live on the estate with their two children, Mia and Lena.
The threat against Anne in late February took place around the same time that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were agreeing on a plan to fund their protection as they transitioned out of their roles as senior royals. While the couple was on Vancouver Island, the Canadian government was providing them with protection, but once they made it to Los Angeles, Prince Charles was paying for their security. Though some of the royals live without full-time protection, incidents like the threat against Anne are a reminder of why the expense is a constant necessity for the family.
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