FBI files reveal IRA plotted to kill Queen Elizabeth during 1983 US visit

Newly released FBI documents have disclosed that Queen Elizabeth II faced a potential assassination threat during her 1983 visit to the US.

According to a report by AFP, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) member plotted to kill Queen Elizabeth during her and husband Prince Philip visit to the west coast of the United States in February and March 1983, however, the trip passed off without incident.

The FBI documents show the possible threat followed a phone call made by "a man who claimed that his daughter had been killed in Northern Ireland by a rubber bullet".

The file states that the man claimed he was going to attempt to harm the queen "by dropping some object off the Golden Gate Bridge onto the royal yacht Britannia when it sails underneath".

Alternatively he "would attempt to kill Queen Elizabeth when she visited Yosemite National Park", they added.

A separate file among the documents, dated 1989, pointed out that while the FBI was unaware of any specific threats against the queen, "the possibility of threats against the British monarchy is ever present from the Irish Republican Army".

Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September 2022 aged 96, has previously been reported to have been the target of other assassination plots. (AFP)