Queen Elizabeth II Assassination Attempt by Teenager Covered Up by Government
New Zealand’s intelligence agency confirmed this Thursday that a teenager attempted to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during a visit to the country back in 1981.
So why was this shocking piece of history covered up and hidden from the rest of the word for over 37 years?
Accord to Australian writer Jonathan Barrett who has been following the story since it broke, the reason New Zealand’s government swept the incident under the rug can be summed up with just one word: embarrassment. It would look bad. Trashy. So, under the rug it went, buried by dust and time. Until it wasn’t any longer. Now, we have the details.
On Oct. 14, 1981, Queen Elizabeth II stepped out of her vehicle just as a gunshot was heard. Terrified citizens looked around searching for the source.
Police immediately lied, telling them it was simply a falling sign or a car backfiring somewhere in the distance. Later, their story even changed to suggest that the sound was firecrackers going off nearby.
But according to declassified documents from the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, then-17-year-old Christopher Lewis had intended to assassinate the Queen that day.
Thankfully, he did not have a high-powered rifle nor the vantage point to reach her when the gun was fired.
So, how did police know it was Lewis? How did they get to him so quickly? Buckle up, because if you’re a fan of the royal family, you’re about to get very upset.
Police had been keeping an eye on him during the Queen’s visit, fearing he was a risk.
On top of all of this, to ensure quieting the story, the New Zealand court did not charge Lewis with attempted-murder as they should have. Lewis was instead charged with possession of a firearm in a public place.
Lewis went to jail for three years, the last of which he spent in a mental hospital. Apparently, he was obsessed with taking out the royal family, and while in the psych ward, was found mapping out a plan to murder Prince Charles.
In 1984, he was released, and with Lewis free to do as he pleased, he brutally murdered an Auckland mother and abducted her baby, later abandoning it on a church’s doorstep.
In 1995, Lewis was again found planning the assassination of the Queen during her return visit to New Zealand.
While he awaited the trial for the murder of the Auckland mother in 1997, he electrocuted himself in his jail cell and denied the murder in his suicide note.
Each of Lewis’ crimes appear to be those that could have been easily avoided but were not in an attempt to save face.
The Queen went on to visit New Zealand 10 more times, most recently in 2002. It is unknown if she knew of the events that had taken place that dark day in New Zealand, a day that very well could have been her last.
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