Mr Thorne’s great grandfather, George Thorne was standing close by when there was an attempted assassination of Duke of Edinburgh Prince Alfred, and received a gunshot wound to his foot.

“He was shot in the heel and it has always been a family joke that he was running away. Most likely he was quite close to the Duke at the time of the shooting,” Mr Thorne said.

In an account by Emily Thorne, daughter of George Thorne, she states, “we heard a sharp noise like a Chinese cracker and looking towards the place from which the sound came I saw the Prince fall … we all exclaimed ‘the Prince is shot’ … we heard another shot. Presently we saw papa limping out of the crowd. I almost screamed out ‘Oh Papa what is the matter’ and he said ‘I’m shot I’m shot’.”

At the time the local paper reported George Thorne’s status while he was hospitalised at home.

Mr Thorne said the family believes Queen Victoria mounted the bullet for George after it was taken from his foot.

“We believe Queen Victoria asked to have the bullet and when it was mounted she sent it back to the family,” Mr Thorne said.

On the back of the mount an inscription reads, ‘This bullet extracted from the foot of George Thorne of Claremont, Rose Bay, Sydney, was finished by O’Farrell at the time of attempted assassination of the Duke of Edinburgh at Clontare on March 12, 1868’.

Mr Thorne said he had been asked to take the bullet to exhibitions many times, but he wasn’t letting it out of his sight.

Pictures have been taken instead and sent along to the exhibitions.

“To the family this is quite an interesting story. It’s a little trinket that has a lot of history behind it.

“The bullet has been passed down from my grandfather, to my father, to me,” Mr Thorne said.

The bullet, and the articles and documents that go with it, will be passed down to Mr Thorne’s children.

Mr Thorne said part of the house his great-grandfather owned at the time in Rose Bay was still standing. At that time George Thorne owned 40 acres in the area.

Mr Thorne said he was interested in his family history and also had the full history of his great grandmother, who met George Thorne on a ship from England to Tasmania.