There was a lot going on in December 2021, but I feel like there is no way this could have escaped my attention. I’m admittedly not the most informed on the coming and goings of the Royal Family. But Prince Harry moved to the U.S. to open his “I have a racist family” business, and it dominated the news cycle for weeks. So tell me how it is possible that a man tried to assassinate the queen of England with a crossbow, and I didn’t hear about it until more than a year later.
This discovery has challenged everything I thought I understood about myself and the world. If I didn’t know that on Christmas Day 2021 a man armed with a crossbow tried to enter Windsor Castle armed with a crossbow to take out the 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, then what else don’t I know?
Here’s the story as I understand it.
Just after 8 a.m. on Christmas morning, 19-year-old Southampton man Jaswant Singh Chail sent a Snapchat video to his friends, saying through a distorted voice, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I’ve done and what I will do. I will attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the Royal Family… This is revenge for those who have died in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. It is also revenge for those who have been killed, humiliated, and discriminated on because of their race. I’m an Indian Sikh, a Sith. My name was Jaswant Singh Chail. My name is Darth Jones.”
That’s a very serious cause, but… is that a Star Wars reference?
In the video, Chail appears wearing a mask and wielding a crossbow, while standing in front of a picture of Darth Malgus. So yeah, I guess this is a Star Wars thing.
Chail then used a rope ladder to scale the gate surrounding Windsor Castle and approached the queen’s private apartment. He is said to have gotten within 500 meters of the monarch, which I believe is still out of range of modern crossbows. Also, apparently crossbows are legal to possess in the U.K. as long as you are 18 or over, per the Crossbow Act of 1987.
Chail’s trespassing was the fourth report of a security incident at Windsor Castle that year. He was apprehended by guards 24 minutes after sending the video message and tripping alarms as he stepped onto the property. Chail dropped the crossbow after being ordered by an officer.
In a press release from the day of the incident, Thames Valley Police Superintendent Rebecca Mears said, “An investigation is ongoing following this incident and we are working with colleagues from the Metropolitan police. The man has been arrested on suspicion of breach or trespass of a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon. He remains in custody at this time. We can confirm security processes were triggered within moments of the man entering the grounds and he did not enter any buildings. Members of the Royal Family have been informed about the incident. We do not believe there is a wider danger to the public.”
Per the Mental Health Act, Chail was held in a medical facility where he could receive treatment after being apprehended. On August 2, 2022, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that “Mr. Chail, 20, has been charged with making threats to kill, possession of an offensive weapon, and an offence under the 1842 Treason Act. The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr. Chail are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.”
Once hearings were underway, prosecutors stated that Chail was approached by a police officer who removed his Taser and asked, “Morning, can I help, mate?”
“I am here to kill the Queen,” before he was taken into custody. Prosecutors also claimed that the former grocery store employee had “previously applied to join the Ministry of Defence Police and the Grenadier Guards, in a bid to get close to the royal family.” The month following these revelations, Queen Elizabeth II died of natural causes at the age of 96.
On February 2, 2023, Chail pleaded guilty to the three charges he faced — treason being the most severe. The court ordered that medical evaluations and reports be compiled before Chail is sentenced on March 31.
According to a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service, the creation of the 1842 Treason Act “can be traced back to an incident on 29 May, 1842, when Queen Victoria was riding in a carriage along The Mall and a man called John Francis aimed a pistol at her but did not fire it. He did it again the next day and was arrested and convicted of high treason, receiving firstly the death penalty, which was then amended to a life sentence.”
The statement adds, “Two days later, a similar attack took place by someone called John Bean, who fired a pistol at the Queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco. At that time, although no physical harm was caused, the offence was still punishable by death. Prince Albert encouraged Parliament to pass a law recognising lesser crimes against the monarch, such as intent to alarm, which would not attract the death penalty merely because they were labelled as ‘high treason.’ Under this section of the Treason Act, in 1981, Marcus Sarjeant was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to firing blank shots at the Queen when she was on parade.”
