Prince won’t be pulled over threat
The royal family won’t remove Prince George from kindergarten or retreat from upcoming public appearances following news that a British ISIS supporter had called for jihadis to attack the 4-yearold son of Prince William and Kate Middleton at his London school, TMZ is reporting.
On Thursday, 32-yearold Husnain Rashid pleaded guilty to terrorism offenses, two weeks into his trial in a London court, CNN reported. Rashid admitted that he had helped prepare for terrorist acts on British Army bases, sports stadiums, shopping centers and Jewish communities between October 2016 and November 2017, CNN said.
He also had written online messages encouraging militants to attack Prince George, the third in line to the British throne. Rashid had shared the full address of the young prince’s school in southwest London, which the boy began attending last September. Rashid wrote: “Even the royal family will not be left alone . ... School starts early.”
According to the BBC, prosecutors said Rashid was encouraging terrorism by posting a photograph of Prince George at the school super-imposed with silhouettes of two masked jihad fighters.
Last week, prosecutor Annabel Darlow told the court “the underlying message was clear” that “Prince George and other members of the royal family should be viewed as targets”.
In addition to his focus on the royals, the BBC reported a magazine he was producing contained suggestions to strike the 2018 World Cup in Russia using vehicles, weapons or bombs.
TMZ reported that Prince George will appear as scheduled with his family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on June 9.
The occasion is to celebrate the 92nd birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, George’s great-grandmother.
There also are no plans to keep George out of school. In September 2017, Prince George started at Thomas’s Battersea in London, whose location is a matter of public record.