大象传媒

In March 1868 Queen Victoria鈥檚 son Prince Alfred was at a charity event in Sydney, Australia when an Irishman named Henry O鈥橣arrell walked up behind him and shot the young prince at point blank range in the back, just missing his spine. O鈥橣arrell was captured, beaten, swiftly tried and found guilty of attempted murder, and then hanged. Alfred survived the attack, but the Victorian world was clearly becoming a more dangerous place for the Royal Family. Queen Victoria hadn鈥檛 encountered an assassin of her own for almost two decades, but many felt that her luck couldn鈥檛 last.

In 1872 Queen Victoria was a grieving widow who was rarely seen in public, then in January Arthur read that a thanksgiving service would be held at St Paul鈥檚 Cathedral to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales from serious illness. The papers were full of the plans for the day and the news galvanised teenager Arthur O鈥機onnor into action.

Dr Bob Nicholson explores the backstory of Victoria鈥檚 sixth attacker - Arthur O鈥機onnor, an aspiring poet from a family of Irish nationalists. Dreaming of following in his ancestor鈥檚 footsteps, the young O鈥機onnor concocted an audacious plan: in front of thousands of the Queen鈥檚 subjects, he would put a gun to her head and force her to sign a document releasing a group of Irish republican prisoners who had been fighting for independence. Arthur looked forward to dying a hero鈥檚 death.