A man who threw eggs at King Charles as he and Camilla, the Queen Consort, greeted the public in the northern English city of York has been found guilty of threatening behaviour.
Key points:
- The man has been sentenced to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work
- The court heard the eggs came close to hitting the King
- An egg was also thrown at the King while he was visiting Luton, north of London, in December
Patrick Thelwell, 23, denied the offence, arguing in court that his use of “low-level violence” was “lawful” as it was self-defence against “the violence carried out by the British state”.
Judge Paul Goldspring, chief magistrate at the court in York, found him guilty of the charge, saying Thelwell “intended to cause King Charles to believe immediate unlawful violence would be used against him”.
The King and Queen Camilla had been in the city on November 9 to unveil a statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II at York Minster.
They were being welcomed by local dignitaries when Thelwell aimed five eggs, which “came very close to hitting King Charles”, the court was told during the trial.
Thelwell was heard booing and shouting “This country was built on the blood of slaves” and “Not my king” during the incident before he was detained by police.
Some people in the crowd reacted by chanting “God save the King” and “Shame on you” at Thelwell.
Thelwell was sentenced to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work.
Last year, footage on social media showed eggs flying past the British monarch and his wife and smashing on the ground as they arrived for a traditional ceremony in York.
They appeared to be unmoved by the incident and carried on with the engagement.
King Charles was on a two-day tour of northern England.
In December, an egg was thrown at the King while he was meeting members of the public outside the town hall in Luton, 46 kilometres north of London.
He was moved to a different area by his security guards and resumed shaking hands with members of the public.
Eggs were also thrown at the Queen’s royal car in 2022 when she visited Nottingham, central England, and anti-British protesters threw eggs at the then Prince of Wales during a walkabout in central Dublin in 1995.
Wires/ABC