He pointed the gun at the Prince through the window and fired twice but missed his target. He was quickly apprehended and found to be carrying anarchist literature.
Brussels was a centre of opposition to the British role in the Boer War at this time, and Sipido told police he wanted to kill the Prince who had so many men killed in South Africa.
There were red faces all around as the new Royal Yacht, Victoria and Albert, capsized as it left the port of Southampton. Later in the year, a fire at Buckingham Palace destroyed part of the roof.
King Umberto I of Italy was assassinated by anarchist Gaetano Bresci in Monza, near Milan on July 30. He was shot three times.
The King had become deeply unpopular with many for his ruthlessness. During the colonial wars in Africa, there were large demonstrations at home over the rising price of bread. The city of Milan was put under the military control of General Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris, who ordered the use of cannons on the demonstrators.
Over a hundred died and a thousand were wounded. The King outraged a great many of his people by sending a telegram to the General congratulating him for restoring order.
Bresci said he killed the King because he wanted to avenge the people killed by Bava-Beccaris.
King Umberto was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel III.
August 4 – Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, The Queen Mother.
June 25 – Lord (Louis) Mountbatten, son of Prince Louis of Battenberg, who became British military commander and last Viceroy of India.
After the outbreak of hostilities the previous October, the British suffered a series of defeats at the hands of the Boers in South Africa.
In January, Field Marshall Lord Roberts arrived in Cape Town to assume supreme command of the British forces and in February, the turn around began. After 118 days, the siege of garrison town, Ladysmith, ended when a relief column of cavalry arrived and the Boers packed their wagons and retreated.
In May, the seven-month siege of Mafeking, the small town on the railway line to Rhodesia, was lifted after British troops arrived.
When the Boers surrendered the Orange Free State and the Transvaal to the British, it was the beginning of the end.
In September, Lord Roberts declared that the war was over, but scattered fighting continued and the war was not officially ended until two years later.
The Boxer Rebellion against foreign influence in China, which started in November of the previous year, escalated to alarming proportions.
The Boxers, who called themselves ‘Fists of Righteous Harmony’, began as members of a patriotic society devoted to martial arts. But it turned into a popular movement against foreign and Christian influence in their country. They were joined by disaffected soldiers and some high officials in the Manchu regime.