LONDON (AFP) – A university student pleaded not guilty to threatening behaviour on Friday, after eggs were thrown at King Charles III during a walkabout last year.
Patrick Thelwell, 23, denied a public order offence related to the incident in York, northern England, in November.
Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring told him he would face trial on April 14, and released him on unconditional bail.
Thelwell’s lawyer Nicola Hall told the hearing the trial would address the issue of whether his actions were part of a “legitimate protest”. It would also include if they “looked likely to cause fear of unlawful violence”, she added. “He would take the view his actions were necessary and part of a protest against the establishment,” Hall told the court.
A number of eggs were thrown at the 74-year-old monarch when he visited York with his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, but none hit the couple.
Last Friday, a 21-year-old man was fined GBP100 after admitting throwing an egg towards Charles in Luton, north of London. Harry Spartacus May objected to the visit, believing it to be in “bad taste” because Luton was “deprived and poor”, a court in London was told.
