Race hate probe as Meghan hit by anthrax powder scare
MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry were sent white powder and a racist message in what is being treated as a hate crime, it was revealed yesterday.
The incident triggered an anthrax scare after the package was intercepted before it reached the couple at Kensington Palace.
Specialists from the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command were called in to investigate, but tests showed that the powder was harmless.
The package was discovered when it was delivered to St James’s Palace for sorting, and Meghan, 36, and Harry, 33, were informed soon after.
Police are thought to be examining whether the incident is linked to a package containing white powder sent to Parliament, reportedly to the office of Home Secretary Amber Rudd. That powder was also found to be harmless.
A Met Police spokesman said: ‘ Police are investigating after a package con- taining a substance was delivered to St James’s Palace on Monday, 12 February. The substance was tested and confirmed as non-suspicious.
‘Officers are also investigating an allegation of malicious communications, which relates to the same package. It is being treated as a racist hate crime.’
Miss Markle’s father, a former Hollywood lighting director, is white, while her mother, a yoga teacher, is black. The actress has often spoken of the racism she and her mother have faced. In November, she said it had been ‘disheartening’ to receive negative attention about her ethnicity after she and Harry began dating.
The incident is the first time the couple are known to have been targeted, and it will almost certainly force police to re-examine security for their wedding at Windsor Castle on May 19.
They intend to ride in an opentopped carriage around the streets of Windsor after the ceremony.
Miss Markle already has 24-hour protection from the Met’s royalty and specialist protection command. But the security around her is now likely to be tightened.
A spokesman for Kensington Palace declined to comment. But retired Chief Superintendent Dai Davies, a former head of royalty protection, said: ‘There is always a threat to the Royal Family from a lunatic fringe.
‘But the bigger threat, in my opinion, is the unknown, fixated individual who, for whatever reason, gets something into their head and decides to act upon it.
‘Meghan Markle’s mixed-race heritage would be regarded by some perverse individuals as an anathema to the Royal Family.
‘The Fixated Threat Assessment Centre will undoubtedly be involved in the investigation of this incident. It was set up in 2006 in conjunction with the Royalty Protection Division to use psychiatrists to examine and mental these kinds health of workers threats. They will be searching their records and files for anyone who has posed such a risk in the past. ‘The good news is that this letter was picked up at an early stage, which shows that the system that has been put in place is working.’ It comes after police in Washington DC began an investigation this month when a substance was sent to the office of former US President Barack Obama. Last week, President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Vanessa, was taken to hospital as a precaution after opening an envelope for her husband, Donald Jr, that contained a white powder. In 2001, anthrax attacks in America left five people dead. Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by bacterial spores and can be fatal if ingested through the mouth or skin, or if it is breathed in. Jo Marney, the girlfriend of former Ukip leader Henry Bolton, admitted yesterday that her racist texts about Miss Markle were disgusting. It emerged last month that the 25-year-old former topless model had sent messages to a friend in which she said Miss Markle would ‘taint’ the Royal Family, and that she was a ‘scrubber’ and a ‘dumb little commoner’. Miss Marney said ethnic minorities were ‘pushing their way to the top slowly slowly. Next will be a Muslim PM. And a black king’. Appearing on the ITV show This Morning yesterday, she admitted: ‘My comments about her were disgusting. They were meant to shock and they were private.’
‘Always a threat from a lunatic fringe’