An attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II was made by a teenager in New Zealand on a royal tour in 1981.
Declassified documents have revealed that the incident occurred during a visit to the city of Dunedin.
New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (SIS) said Christopher Lewis, who was 17 at the time, fired a shot at the monarch.
It has been suggested by former police officers and local media that a cover-up ensued because the shot was reported to have been caused by a sign falling over.
Stuff obtained the declassified documents that said the close call happened during a royal parade on 14 October 1981, when what locals “took to be a shot” was heard.
The perpetrator was arrested shortly afterwards and police discovered a rifle and used gun cartridge in a building overlooking the parade.
“Lewis did indeed originally intend to assassinate the Queen,” but he “did not have a suitable vantage point from which to fire, nor a sufficiently high-powered rifle for the range”.
Stuff also obtained an SIS memo written after Lewis’ first court date that expressed fears about journalists connecting his case to the royal tour.
“Current police investigations into the shots have been conducted discreetly and most media representatives probably have the impression that the noise was caused by a firework of some description,”
“There is a worry, however, that in court the press may make the connections between the date of the offence and the Queen’s visit.”
Tom Lewis was a police officer at the time and told Stuff that he believes the New Zealand government covered up the attempt on the Queen’s life and doubted if the full truth would ever be known.
“It will be like ripping the scab off… so much pus would come out”.
Christopher was going to be charged with attempted treason but that was changed to offences including discharging a firearm.
Speaking to the BBC Colin Peacock, a producer and presenter on Radio New Zealand, said local journalists “believe [the cover up] came from the very very top and shut down the story”. He said this after many of them divulged to him that they were visited by police at the time and directed as to how they were allowed to report on the incident.
Christopher was reported to have suffered “delusions” as he told investigators he was the commander of an armed group. The SIS investigated this claim but found no evidence to back it up.
He continued to commit offences after his initial jail term, going on to commit armed robberies and eventually murder.
He took his own life in prison in 1997.
Here the Queen can be seen conferring the honour of Knighthood to Sir Donald McKinnon at Buckingham Palace. Sir Donald was the Deputy Prime Minister (1990-1999) at the time Lewis died in prison.
Security measures have tightened on royal visits since, with bullet-proof vehicles being favoured over the open top ones she travelled in in New Zealand.
The Queen survived unscathed an will celebrate Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding on May 19th.
