On the evening of 20 March 1974, Princess Anne and her husband, Captain Mark Phillips, were being driven back to Buckingham Palace along The Mall when a white car swerved in front of them and forced them to stop.
The driver, Ian Ball, got out armed with two revolvers. He s*ot her protection officer, Inspector Jim Beaton, her chauffeur, a journalist and a police constable. He then tried to drag the Princess from the back of the car, while she flatly refused to go and her husband held on to her.
Ronnie Russell was 28, a married father of two from Strood in Kent, and a former heavyweight boxer. He was simply driving home from work when he saw what was happening. He pulled over and ran back towards the gunfire.
Seeing the gunman gripping the Princess by the arm, Ronnie punched him on the back of the head. Ball spun round and f*red at him. The s*ot missed. Ronnie didn't back off. He came round the car again and, as the g*nman made another grab for the Princess, hit him in the face. As police officers began to arrive, Ball ran, and was chased down and arrested.
Princess Anne and Captain Phillips were unhurt. Every man Ball shot that night survived. Ronnie later said: "I honestly thought that I was going to die."
He was awarded the George Medal. When the Queen presented it to him at Buckingham Palace that November, she told him the medal was from the Queen, but she wanted to thank him as Anne's mother.
An ordinary bloke, on his way home, who ran towards the danger. That's the kind of courage worth remembering.