It’s almost as if marrying into a royal family is a fairytale. According to a new book on Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, their narrative includes a chapter regarding security.

According to the book Finding Freedom, Meghan took part in a staged abduction with fake guns.

It’s a big deal to become a member of the royal family. In addition to the obvious requirements, such as learning royal etiquette and enduring heavy media scrutiny, prospective royals-in-law must also complete an almost comically intensive security training program.

The book, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, includes never-before-heard facts about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, such as the training course Markle and her sister-in-law Middleton had to attend before and after their marriages.

Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton were ready for anything when they joined the royal family.

Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand explained the training Meghan Markle had on her way to becoming a member of the royal family, which is allegedly the same training Kate Middleton through shortly after marrying Prince William in 2011.

Both royal ladies attended a two-day training session at the SAS headquarters of the British Army to prepare them for potential hostage or security crises. The Duchess of Sussex attended in 2018, while the Duchess of Cambridge did so in 2011.

“Meghan took part in a staged kidnapping, where she was bundled up in a car by a ‘terrorist,’ taken to a different location, and then ‘saved’ by officers firing fake guns (the kind used in Hollywood films) for realism,” wrote authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. “During the mock kidnapping, Meghan was taught to develop a relationship with the enemy. She was also instructed on how to drive a car while in pursuit.”

A source close to Meghan told the writers it was an “extremely tense and scary experience” for the Duchess of Sussex, which is unsurprising. I’m not joking. It sounds like you’re living in a scene from the film Taken, which is frightening and intense.

The training is not just for new members of the royal family; it is required of all members. And, from what I’ve heard, things became quite heated.

It may seem strange to have to plan for an abduction, yet it happens. Princess Anne, in fact, escaped an abduction attempt in 1974, as she discusses in her new ITV documentary, Princess Royal: Anne at 70.

Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter, was driving back to Buckingham Palace with her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, after attending an evening charity event when their chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce was forced to stop by another car that had blocked their route.

When the driver, jobless worker Ian Ball, began shooting bullets, injuring her chauffeur Alex Callender and private detective James Beaton, he got into the front seat and ordered the 23-year-old princess out, to which she allegedly responded, “Not bloody likely.”

Fortunately, Princess Anne was rescued.

Passerby Ronnie Russell, an amateur boxer, came to Anne’s aid and was awarded the George Medal – Britain’s highest civilian award for gallantry – by the Queen herself, who said to Russell at the ceremony, which was also attended by Anne: “The medal is from the Queen, but I want to thank you as Anne’s mother.”

Princess Anne revealed in a 1980 interview with British talk show presenter Michael Parkinson that she refused to move even after Ball grabbed her elbow and pushed her to the vehicle floor, saying, “We had a sort of discussion about where or where not we were going to go.”

The duke and duchess of Sussex were not interviewed and did not contribute to Finding Freedom, according to a spokesperson for Prince Harry and Markle, who said, “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not interviewed and did not contribute to Finding Freedom. This book is based on the authors’ own experiences as members of the royal press corps and their own independent reporting.”