How The IRA Tried To Kidnap Edward VIII
IRA plotted to kidnap future king as bargaining chip
IRA volunteers tried to kidnap the future King Edward VIII at the Cowes Regatta in July 1922, documents declassified in Ireland today show.
The attempt was hatched in an effort to have a death sentence on an IRA man commuted, the military pensions archives reveal.
The Irish Times reports that the plan was masterminded by John Joseph Carr.
He told the military pensions board: “The rough plan of rescue evolved around the possibility that, should a member of the royal English family be kidnapped, and this kidnapping be kept from the press, negotiations should be carried on for a remission of the sentence imposed, to a possible lunacy charge.”
Carr travelled to London, and borrowed £100 from his mother to buy a car for the operation.
However, the plan was quickly rumbled, after Carr's co-conspirator's accent was "commented on by the policemen with the result that we considered the attempt jeopardised.”
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After the end of the Irish civil war, Carr emigrated to the United States. He was given an IRA pension for five and a half years service.
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