The leadership legacy of Queen Elizabeth II on the centenary of her birth Tuesday 21st April 2026

From one of my roles as a London ambassador, welcoming more than 10,000 visitors touring London, I can confidently estimate that less than 10 % are actually aware that the Queen was shot at while riding a horse in military uniform on her way to inspect the armed forces as part of the annual Trooping of the Colour. I’ve been checking their awareness on this for years following another lesser-known revelation that Elizabeth’s Great-Great Grandmother, Queen Victoria, was herself subject to eight assasination attempts by seven would-be assassins; Elizabeth had pedigree in being robustly strong. 

We don’t tend to have Elizabeth’s shooting incident at the front of our minds because of her reaction at the time; She didn’t react - or rather not in the way you might expect a Head of State to do so. She didn’t duck and rush into the protective custody of body guards (or as some mockingly suggest, ‘display her ear ‘Trump-like’ to the cameras’).

In fact The Queen did NOT dismount from riding side-saddle but continued as if displaying herself as an oil-painted war leader on an historic battle-ground. As the figure-head leader of the UK’s armed forces, she assessed the immediate crisis; which she did. She would have been aware that a policeman and one of her soldiers, dressed in the classic red uniform complete with Canadian bearskin, had managed to floor the gunman while members of the public standing nearby ‘courageously piled on’ to ensure the Queen’s safety. With the immediate threat dealt with, the next priority was the horse which unsurprisingly wasn’t too keen on the noise of six gunshots either. 

Her Majesty  was a good horsewoman and her instinct was to calm the horse down. She then looked either side of the horse and decided to continue in the procession as if nothing had happened. She  was, after all, a known stickler for time-keeping and procedure.

In summer, last year (2025), in an extraordinary coincidence, I had the historian’s dream of some primary evidence presenting itself at the very place where the 17 year old gunman, Marcus Sarjeant, had fired the blanks. Prompted by his daughter, a young Police Constable at the time of the shooting was able to confirm the sequence of events I've been narrating to London’s visitors for many years. I’d love to hear from him again but without an assembled audience of Americans as on that day..  

Then of course there’s the incident, only a year later, of the young man, aptly named Michael Fagan, who on his second successful breach of palace security, explored unnoticed. But on this second attempt he hit the jackpot. He tried a couple of mystery doors down one particular palace corridor to suddenly find himself in the Queen’s bedroom, complete with the Queen in situ. 

It’s my understanding that the Queen did not run around the room like a headless chicken, screaming that a man had entered her room who wasn’t her husband. Far from it. The strong calmness kicked in again and I’ve heard reports she invited this ‘son of a safe-breaker’ to have a cigarette and a chat. His intention was never to harm the queen or even meet her, but reality can be strange.

There are similar stories of this legendary royal strength and leadership elsewhere, but these two examples are remarkable in their own right, but somehow brushed aside easily. In my mind’s eye I’m sure there’s a book waiting to be written to join the many others on effective management techniques, but simply titled ‘Strong Calmness’.

Queen Elizabeth II helped put volunteering at the heart of the national conversation in the build-up to a much acclaimed, volunteer-led Olympics hosted in London in 2012. Arguably the start of this was her commemoration of the Year of the Volunteer. Jason Tanner was able to meeet and talk with the Queen, as a volunteer, at a special Buckingham Palace reception. His encounter with Her Majesty crystalised his analysis of her impact as a leader of the royal family for more than 70 years. Jason Tanner's personal account of meeting Queen Elizabeth II is published as part of the centenary commemorations of her birth

___

Media contact: Jason Tanner 07941 433598 or jason@jasontanner.uk 

www.jasontanner.uk

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasontanner-uk

Notes for editors

With his career launching as a Broadcast Journalist, Jason Tanner developed expertise in wide ranging disciplines such as politics, cancer research, monarchy, heritage, tourism, entertainment and volunteering. He progressed to a senior level in both media and public relations. This followed an initial five years as a broadcast journalist for BBC and Independent Local Radio including Radio Mercury FM / Mercury Extra & BBC Surrey / Southern Counties. He has led successful talented teams for one of the nation’s largest charities, the National Trust and the national volunteering & training charity CSV, (now known as Volunteering Matters). He is currently active in the London tourism industry having presented the city’s relevance to the lives of more than 10,000 visitors. He has become a Royal Historian and has been studying history throughout his school, graduate and post-graduate studies. His specialism has a strong emphasis on the UK’s key role in establishing modern democracy through its constitutional monarchy. He has also developed his own unique narrative that he terms as ‘his-story, ’ charting the rise and fall of the Empire with reference to Queen Victoria and the second Elizabethan age; using the streets of London as the backdrop. Spurred on by current threats to free speech, he became the founding Director of the Defend UK campaign for fairer free speech. He also writes as an independent, multi–subject news commentator.

jasontannerpr@gmail.com

07941 433598

Jason Tanner
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasontanner-uk