Princess Anne has always been known for her no-nonsense approach to life.
As the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, she has spent her life in the spotlight.
The Princess Royal, now 73, famously does not suffer fools, so it is hardly surprising that she managed to evade a kidnapping attempt in 1974 by simply refusing to cooperate with her attacker.
On March 20, 1974, Princess Anne, then 23, was in a limousine with her then husband Mark Phillips, her royal protection officer James Beaton, and lady-in-waiting Rowena Jane Brassey.
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As the vehicle, which was being driven by royal chauffeur Alexander Callender, approached The Mall, a blue Ford Escort in front of it slammed on the breaks, forcing their car to stop.
The gun-wielding driver, a man named Ian Ball, then leapt from the vehicle and began firing shots, hitting the chauffeur and security officer.
Also shot was police officer Detective Constable Peter Edmonds, and journalist, Brian McConnell, who tried to intervene.
When Ball reached Princess Anne, he told her he was kidnapping her for a £2 million ransom (AUD$3.8 million), which he reportedly planned to give to the National Health Service to fund mental health treatment.
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But there was only one problem. When Ball tried to extract Princess Anne from the vehicle she refused, reportedly answering "not bloody likely" to his demands.
In the end, Princess Anne was saved by Ronnie Russell, a former heavyweight boxer, who saw the events unfold from his car.
He parked, walked towards the melee and punched Ball in the head, ending the standoff and becoming a national hero.
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In interviews published at the time, Russell said, "As a 6' 4, ex-heavyweight boxer, I decided I was well-placed to defuse the situation.
"I wanted to prevent this fellow from getting into any more trouble. So I stopped my car and walked towards him."
Anne talked about the terrifying incident in a documentary, Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, which aired in 2020, and said she remembered the event very clearly.
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"What is interesting is what you remember and how you remember it, because although I thought I remembered everything that happened I would never have been able to swear I could remember in the right order," she said.
"Because they were like photos, individual snapshots."
She also admitted she had wondered before the event what she would do if such an event ever happened.
"Strangely, I had thought before that, 'what would you do if...'."
According to the UK's national archives, Ball was charged with the attempted kidnap of HRH Princess Anne and attempted murder of three people.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced under the Mental Health Act 1959 to 41 years in years in a high-security psychiatric hospital in England, where he still remains today.
In an interview with The Mirror in 2020, Russell recalled details of the night.
He said he was taking a shortcut down the Mall on his way to work when he saw Ball firing two revolvers.
"I wasn't frightened. I had no idea who was in the car but when I saw him shoot the copper I thought, 'That's taking the p---', so I went for him," he said.
"I went to hit him around the back of the head and he turned and fired. It went through a taxi windscreen."
That was when he saw Ball trying to pull Princess Anne from the car as her husband pulled her the other way.
"There was banging and smashing going on. He had Princess Anne by the arm. There was a tug of war.
"She was calm. She said: 'Go away you silly man'. I saw a door was open. I said: 'Come this way, Anne, you will be safe'."
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He then realised Ball was behind him holding a gun.
"At that point I thought it was now or never. I hit Ball very hard, square on the chin," he said.
"He was flat on the floor face down. I jumped on his back for good measure. I could have died, yeah, but I knew what I was doing.
"The only person I did not want to get shot was Princess Anne."
Six months after the incident, the Queen presented bravery medals to those who helped save her daughter.
Russell received the George Medal and was reportedly told by the Queen during the presentation, "The medal is from the Queen, but I want to thank you as Anne's mother."
In 2020 he told The Mirror that shortly before the medal presentation, two police officers visited his home and told him, 'We are really telling you this a bit early but the Queen is going to pay off your mortgage as a gift for what you have done'.
"I thought that was wonderful. I was actually close to repossession at the time."
But he told The Mirror, "It never happened. I was never paid anything."
He ended up selling the medal after falling on hard times due to ill health. It fetched $96,000 at auction.
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