Resurfaced footage of the 1994 King Charles assassination attempt displays similarities with President Donald Trump’s response to the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
When shots were fired at Trump’s republican rally on July 13th last year, the then-former president hit the ground, and his Secret Service agents swarmed over to the stage to protect him.
Thomas Matthew Crooks Tried To Kill President Trump
With the help of his entourage, he stood up and triumphantly pumped his fist in the air. He had been shot in the ear by twenty-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
He fired at Trump from the roof of a nearby building. While he missed the mark he aimed for, he managed to kill an audience member. He also seriously injured two other people. The Secret Service agents killed the gunman.
King Charles knows how Trump must have felt. However, when the former Prince of Wales was shot at, the gun used fired only blank rounds from a starting pistol, which is an important detail that was unknown at the time.
The incident occurred thirty-one years ago today in Australia, where Charles gave a speech at Tumbalong Park in Sydney.
Charles was praised for calmly adjusting his cufflinks while his bodyguards shielded him and handled the situation. He remained perfectly composed as the shots rang out at him.
David Kang Fired Blanks At Prince Charles
Twenty-three-year-old David Kang was wrestled to the ground by police as Charles stood by unharmed.
“His control in the circumstances, I think, reflected the professional attitude that he has,”
Remarked the then Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, after the episode. He added,
“Prince Charles is a good friend of this country, and he should be treated with the respect and dignity a good friend deserves.”
Kang claimed it was not an assassination attempt. It was a “political demonstration” to bring attention to the hardships faced by the Cambodian asylum seekers being held in detention camps in Australia.
The King’s bodyguard, Superintendent Colin Trimming, was the one who quickly moved Charles out of the way. Onlooker Ian Kiernan commented that Charles was “cool as a cucumber.”
Kang was arrested and sentenced to 500 hours of community service. He’s now a successful barrister specializing in criminal law and married with two children. After Trump’s assassination attempt, Charles personally wrote a letter to Trump.
The contents of the letter are not entirely known. However, it was said that Charles was “appalled by the attack” and expressed his sympathy for the victims and their families.
King Charles Lost His Uncle, Lord Mountbatten, When He Was Killed
Charles also knows how it feels to lose someone he loves in an assassination. His mentor and great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, was killed in 1979 after a terrorist group detonated a bomb under his fishing boat.
According to Jonathan Dimbely’s 1994 biography,
“He and Charles were close and fondly called each other ‘honorary grandfather’ and ‘honorary grandson.”
Royal author Robert Jobson wrote in his 2023 book, King Charles the Man and the Monarch Revealed:
“Understandably, Charles was profoundly affected by the murder of his beloved mentor and great uncle, Lord Mountbatten.”
Jobson observed that Charles likely stayed so calm when the gunman approached because he already experienced the death of his uncle.
Kang later admitted that he intentionally fell and made it look like he tripped onstage because he believed Charles’s bodyguards would have shot him.
Former royal correspondent Jennie Bond claimed that the event had been particularly “boring” until the incident.
The stunt also improved Charles’s reputation in Australia as it “soared” because he was “supremely cool under fire.”
What happened that day remained with Charles for years to come, despite him visiting the country since, and he was moved enough by Trump’s bravery in the aftermath of his assassination attempt to send him some kind words decades later.
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