'I nearly shot you!' Guardsman almost shoots THE QUEEN as she takes a moonlight stroll
A FORMER guardsman has told how he once "nearly shot" the Queen after the monarch went for a late night walk around the palace grounds when she could not sleep.
A palace guard has spoken of a surprise encounter with the Queen late one evening
According to a diary column, the unnamed soldier revealed he spotted a figure in the darkness at 3am.
Believing that he had come across an intruder, he shouted: 'Who's that?'
To his amazement it was the Queen.
The Queen said that she will call ahead in future to warn guards when she had a midnight stroll
"Bloody hell, Your Majesty, I nearly shot you," he blurted out.
The Queen, who likes to go for a stroll when she cannot sleep, was said to have replied: "That's quite all right. Next time I'll ring through beforehand so you don't have to shoot me."
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.