'Queen neared a breakdown after a plot against Prince Charles'

Queen Elizabeth II, who is set to mark her extraordinary Platinum Jubilee milestone this summer, has gone through many crises during her historic reign.

The 95-year-old, who has become Britain's first ever monarch to reach 70 years on the throne, was once neared a "breakdown" after her son, Prince Charles, was targeted with a bomb, according to a royal expert.

A new biography has revealed how the monarch has kept her cool through it all.

However, one aspect of the book shows how the Queen neared a "breakdown" after her eldest son, Prince Charles, was targeted with a bomb while carrying out public duties in Wales.

Reviewing Robert Hardman's new book in the Daily Telegraph, Queen of Our Times, historian Jane Ridley recalled the incident.

She wrote: "Prince Charles’s investiture at Caernarfon was a modern take on royal ceremonial designed by Snowdon, but it became a target for terrorist Welsh nationalists, and Prince Charles was lucky to escape a bomb.

"Hardman reveals how shattering this was for the Queen. For the first time she cancelled her engagements and came close to breakdown."

The man behind the masterplan to disrupt Prince Charles' event was a former sergeant with the Army's Dental Corp, named John Jenkins, according to media reports.