Editing Jack Ryan (character) (section)

====''[[Patriot Games]]'' (July 1987)====
[[File:Jack Ryan 1992.jpg|thumb|[[Harrison Ford]] portrayed Jack Ryan in [[Patriot Games (film)|the film adaptation]] of ''[[Patriot Games]]''.]]
While in [[London]] with his family in late 1981, Ryan (portrayed by [[Harrison Ford]] in the film) stumbles upon a kidnapping attempt on the [[Prince of Wales]] and his family (in the film: Lord Holmes, a cousin of the Queen), which is orchestrated by the Ulster Liberation Army, a splinter group of the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] and terrorist organization. He foils the attack by killing one gunman while injuring another and gets wounded in the process. Ryan is later knighted by [[Queen Elizabeth II]] as an honorary [[Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]; in the books, some British characters call him "Sir John" even though honorary knights are not permitted to use the style of "Sir".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Monarchy Today > Queen and public > Honours > Knighthoods |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Honours/Knighthoods.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111231155538/http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Honours/Knighthoods.aspx |archive-date=December 31, 2011 |access-date=2015-05-21 |publisher=The official website of the British Monarchy}}</ref>

Sean Miller, the Irish gunman Ryan wounded, was sentenced to life imprisonment but is freed by his ULA compatriots, embittered over the failure of the kidnapping attempt, and particularly the death of his brother at Ryan's hands in that attempt, he exacts revenge on Ryan by attacking his wife and daughter. After pleas by Greer, Ryan agrees to join the CIA in a permanent position as an analyst, originally to gather intelligence on the ULA. Later, Miller and his men stage another kidnapping attempt on the Prince and Princess of Wales, who are visiting the Ryan family in their [[Maryland]] home; however, they are overpowered by the combined efforts of Ryan, his friend Robert "Robby" Jackson, and the Prince as well as law enforcement and naval officers who are nearby. After the ordeal, Ryan's second child [[Jack Ryan Jr.]] was born.