FBI records reveal 'ever-present' threats to Queen Elizabeth II by the IRA

FBI records reveal 'ever-present' threats to Queen Elizabeth II by the IRA

Newly released FBI files show the bureau was concerned about “ever-present” threats to Queen Elizabeth II by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during visits to the US.

A memo warning agents in Boston and New York to remain “alert for any threats” ahead of a 1989 visit to the east coast was among 102 pages of records released about the late Queen.

Other details include a police tip-off about a threat from an IRA sympathizer who wanted revenge for the death of his daughter.

The officer who provided the information claimed that a month before Ronald and Nancy Reagan hosted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 1983, he received a phone call from a man he knew from an Irish pub.

According to the memo, the man said his daughter had been killed by a rubber bullet in Northern Ireland.

“This man additionally claimed that he was going to attempt to harm Queen Elizabeth and would do this either by dropping some object off the Golden Gate Bridge onto the royal yacht Britannia when it sails underneath, or would attempt to kill Queen Elizabeth when she visited Yosemite National Park,” the confidential file states.

The documents show FBI agents routinely shared intelligence and preparations with the US Secret Service about the IRA and its sympathizers during royal visits.