FBI Exposes Threat to Kill Queen Elizabeth II During US Visit in 1980s

Queen Elizabeth II's United States (US) visit way back in 1983 was faced with a kill plot threat, a recently released FBI document exposes.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published many documents about Queen Elizabeth II following her death last September 8.

Threat to Kill Queen Elizabeth II Back During Her US Visit in the 1980s

Queen Elizabeth US — WASHINGTON - MAY 07: (AFP OUT) HM Queen Elizabeth II greets schoolchildren while walking from the White House to Blair House along Pennsylvania Avenue May 7, 2007 in Washington, DC. The Queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh are on a six day trip to the United States. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The FBI has released files that show threats to kill Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the US way back in the 1980s, according to NBC News.

The Bureau publicly shared its records, spanning 102 pages, about the late queen on Monday, May 22. The teletype saw the light of day in a nod to a Freedom of Information Act request by NBC News and other news outlets in the US after the queen passed away in 2022.

The FBI shared the files in its online platform, aptly named The Vault, which houses various documents covering topics that are interesting to many. Some of the files recently published on the website include information about the queen's visit to the US. Some cover communication behind closed doors and press clippings, memos, and visit itineraries.

However, the federal agency heavily redacted some of the information in these documents.

Beneath the over 100-page files, an FBI document sheds light on a threat to assassinate the queen during her visit to the US in 1983. The threat came a month before Elizabeth II, and Prince Philip visited Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

As per BBC, an unnamed US police officer, who frequents an Irish bar in San Francisco, told the FBI that he received a call from a man he knew at the pub. He says the man who contacted him told him that his daughter "had been killed in Northern Ireland by a rubber bullet." And as such, he is seeking revenge for his beloved daughter.

To do so, he told the officer that he planned to kill the queen upon her stop at Yosemite National Park.

'Ever-Present' Threats to the Queen by the IRA

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 29: Queen Elizabeth II meets guests as she attends the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on May 29, 2019 in London, England. Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Besides the plot to kill the queen in 1983, the FBI files exposed the "ever-present" threat to the British monarch from the IRA or the Irish Republican Army.

The FBI files show that the federal agency shares threats from IRA sympathizers to the US Secret Service during royal visits, as per Sky News. The concern comes as an IRA bombing took the life of the queen's second cousin in 1979.

However, as history shows, the plot to assassinate or threats from IRA sympathizers Elizabeth II never materialized. The longest-reigning monarch in British history died peacefully last September at 96.