h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Attempted Abduction of Princess Anne - A780400
Author: Jimster - U292

Here ya go - something a little different from me

Jimster

Nice one...

Sounds like a rather 'confused' mind at work...
And for Prince Phillip, the more I hear from him, the more I think I'd like him.

The 'confused mind' being the attacker not the writer!



- X

This might well be my shortest entry so far.

Loquatious Jims

Nice little snippet of history- one small typo, well, two together-

His letter went on to explain that he believed his story could discredit the present Tory government (at the time riding high in the popularity polls thanks to the events in the Falkland Crisis). despite his 'starling' revelation, his sentence was not repealed.

'starling' should be 'startling' surely- unless the revelation resembled a small annoying bird.

Those brackets don't need to be there either, since there is nothing after the close bracket, so how about-

His letter went on to explain that he believed his story could discredit the present Tory government, at the time riding high in the popularity polls thanks to the events in the Falkland Crisis. Despite his 'startling' revelation, his sentence was not repealed.

Oh, and one other thing occurs to me- surely the car didn't carry *the* Royal Standard- wouldn't it have been Anne's own variation on it?

Other than these little points great

Oh, I like Prince Phillips' quote. Might it be worth saying a little more about Princess Anne - shame there isn't an entry on her to link to. She had quite a reputation for forthrightness (which she probably still has). Remember the 'Naff orf' comments to journalists and photographers.

As an aside, I am led to believe that the Navy think very highly of Princess Anne (and didn't of Prince Andrew, when he was in the Navy).

Cool!

Just one comment. I'm sure this isn't the only serious attempt to kidnap a British Royal, but I suppose it depends what definition of kidnap you use. Probably best to add "in modern times" ???

Otto

er..sorry...

second para under 'so what happened' does not make sense

a negative is missing.

alec.

Thanks all. Fixed those errors.

Otto - as far as I can tell, no party has ever got so close to abducting a British royal. Maybe others have conspired but not been able to put their plans into action though.

I'll be honest, until I pulled this entry out of the Italics 'challenge' pot two weeks ago, I didn't even know this had happened. As I began to research it, the whole affair began to look like a massive conspiracy - especially when the Patty Hearst kidnappers looked like they might have been involved... very unsettling actually.

Jims

Richard the Lionheart was a prisoner of war, so that's kind of kidnapped...!

Otto

Looking good Jimster - you didn't have to remove the reference to the Royal Standard though- you could have just changed it to "Princess Anne's Standard", or "Anne's varation of the Royal standard".

I know, probably being overcautious on my part, but the fact that I can't be sure which standard was on the front just made me think it was unnecessary detail. I actually spent hours wondering why she'd be going up the Mall when she'd just got married. Would she be staying at Buckingham Palace or would she be living at one of the other palaces like St James? In the end it was my mum who explained that the Royals tend to stay at Buck Pal. for the summer, as they have so many functions to attend, so she was probably just staying there. That got me to wondering if she just asked her mam if she could borrow the limo for the evening

Jims

What about adding something about Princess Anne's character in the light of her father's alleged comment, as suggested earlier?

Don't worry, I'm not ignoring the suggestions - just sod's law that I have a stack of entries in at once, two of my own and two co-written - bit like juggling plates

How about: 'Princess Anne was famous for her cutting remarks and complete lack of patience or tolerance for the British press (she once bluntly told a journalist to 'naff orf'). It's little surprise then, that, on being told of the adbuction attempt, her father allegedly remarked...'

That sounds fine, Jimster. (I seem to remember that she told them to 'Naff off' on more than one occastion, though.) At the time, she suffered from a poor press image. Now, I believe, she has a much more positive image, as being a very hard worker, particularly for children, although this was dented at one time as she appeared to have remarkably little sympathy with Princess Di).

Hi Jimster!

Some comments:

This is a guide to the World, not to the UK, so it might be appropriate to say "Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom".

I don't think you should bother with the footnote saying when Anne and Mark Philips were married. Leave it out.

I don't think you should say "surprisingly". As someone unfamiliar with UK law, I would not have assumed in advance that the charge would be treason - I thought that was for crimes against the Monarch and the Parliament - so I was not surprised.

In one place you say "manage to" when it should be "managed to".

Hi Gnomon,

I take your point about this being a global guide, but surely Queen Elizabeth is famous the world over? I've amended that section just in case, but I'm sure anyone reading it would realise it's about the British Queen, especially because it states that this is a case in British history in the next line.

The reference to when the couple were married is there because I feel it's relevant to the topic - had the kidnap attempt been successful, the fact that they were still only recently married would have been played up by the press.

Also, I see your point about the use of the word 'surprisingly'. I've rewritten this para to spell out just why some might have thought it might have been a treasonable offence. The suggestion is that had he been successful, it could well have been seen as treason, but because he failed it wasn't.



Jims

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