IRA sympathiser's plot to kill the Queen revealed in FBI records

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An IRA sympathiser threatened to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II by dropping an "object" off the Golden Gate Bridge on to her royal yacht during her visit to San Francisco at the height of the Troubles, FBI documents reveal.

A police officer who frequented an Irish pub in the city alerted FBI agents to a call he had received from another regular drinker, who wanted to avenge the death of his daughter. The caller claimed she "had been killed in Northern Ireland by a rubber bullet".

The alleged plotter said that he was going to drop the object as the Queen's royal yacht, Britannia, passed beneath the bridge. He also said he could attempt to harm the Queen when she visited Yosemite National Park.

The Queen's royal yacht, Britannia, passing the Bay Bridge in 1983. There was an alleged plot to drop a bomb on it when it went under the more famous Golden Gate Bridge

FREDERIC LARSON/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/GETTY IMAGES

• Queen