A hero no more? Why princess Anne's kidnapping saviour must give up his medal
<p><span>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. </span><br /><br /><span>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. </span><br /><br /><span>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.</span></p>
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<p><br /><span>In a 1980s interview about the kidnapping attempt, the Royal Princess revealed she took a surprisingly no-nonsense approach with her attacker.</span><br /><br /><span>"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. </span><br /><br /><span>"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'.</span><br /><br /><span>"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?"</span><br /><br /><span>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. </span><br /><br /><span>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.</span><br /><br /><span>Ball took off running as more police arrived and was later arrested in part thanks to Russell's well-timed punch.</span></p>
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8OYRRAnDll/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Dix Noonan Webb (@dixnoonanwebb)</a> on Feb 6, 2020 at 4:01am PST</p>
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<p><br /><br /><span>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.</span><br /><span>"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.</span><br /><br /><span>Sadly, 46 years later Russell is being forced to let go of the medal, something he said he “would never ever do”. </span><br /><br /><span>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.</span><br /><br /><span>However, he has a simple request for the person who buys the keepsake. </span><br /><br /><span>"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 <em>BBC.</em></span><br /><br /><span>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."</span><br /><br /><span>Moments later Russell made a move to protect the princess, and squared up against Ball despite the danger he’d be putting himself in. </span><br /><br /><span>"Ball stood there glaring at me with the gun and I hit him," Russell said. </span><br /><br /><span>"I hit him as hard as I could, and he was flat on the floor face down."</span></p>
