The day the Queen was shot at during 1981 birthday parade

Seventeen-year-old man fired gun at monarch six times before he was seized by police and guardsman

The year 1981 was significant for the royal family in more ways than one – Prince Charles married Diana, Princess of Wales, and a man tried to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.

Marcus Sarjeant, who was 17 years old at the time, fired six blank cartridges at the Queen as she rode past crowds on horseback during the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

The shots startled the Queen’s horse, but she was able to bring it back under control within a few seconds.

At the time of the incident, the Queen had rode down the Mall and was turning into a crowded Horseguards’ Parade.

Marcus Sarjeant joined the anti-royalist movement in 1980 (PA)

The monarch was visibly shaken by the incident, but quickly recovered and comforted her 19-year-old horse, Burmese, which she had ridden in birthday parades since 1969.

Despite the incident, the procession continued as planned and she returned to the Palace by the same route.

Mr Sarjeant, who was from Kent, had joined parts of the British military to little success, before becoming a member of the anti-royalist movement in 1980.

After he was unable to buy ammunition for his father’s handgun, Mr Sargeant ordered two imitation Colt Python revolvers which could only fire blanks.

Before the ceremony, he sent a letter to Buckingham Palace with the message: “Your Majesty. Don’t go to the Trooping the Colour ceremony because there is an assassin set up to kill you, waiting just outside the palace.”

The Queen never replied to Mr Sarjeant’s apology letter (PA)

However, the letter arrived three days after the incident.

As he was seized by a guardsman and police, the young man told them: “I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be a somebody.”

He was eventually sentenced to prison and spent three years at HMP Grendon Underwood and was released in 1982, aged 20.

He changed his name and began a new life. He also wrote to the Queen to apologise, but received no reply.

His current whereabouts are not known to the public.