ON THIS DAY IN Royal HISTORY
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30 May 1842
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John Francis tried to assassinate the Queen.
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◼ On 29 May 1842, Queen Victoria was riding in a carriage along The Mall, London, when John Francis aimed a pistol at her but the gun did not fire; he escaped.
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◼ The following day 30 May, Victoria drove the same route, though faster & with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to provoke Francis to take a second aim and catch him in the act.
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◼ Standing on Constitution Hill with a flintlock pistol, Francis waited for Victoria & Prince Albert to return from a carriage ride through London’s parks.
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◼ As expected, Francis shot at her, but he was seized by plain clothes policemen, & convicted of high treason. On 3 July, two days after Francis’s death sentence was commuted to transportation for life.
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◼ The decision to ride was entirely down to the Queen, as was the decision to ride the next day among a crowd of thousands clamouring to congratulate her.
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◼ There were at least seven recorded assassination attempts on Queen Victoria’s life. .
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