MEGHAN AND HARRY
RACIST’S ANTHRAX THREAT TO COUPLE
PRINCE HARRY and his fiancee Meghan Markle have become victims of a hoax anthrax scare, Scotland Yard revealed yesterday.
A letter containing white powder purporting to be the deadly bacteria and a racist message was sent to the couple at Kensington Palace.
It was intercepted while being sorted at St James’s Palace on February 12, according to the Metropolitan Police.
Officers from Scotland Yard’s counter terrorism command, SO15, were called in to investigate and tests established that the substance was harmless.
The next day the couple went to Edinburgh on their first joint visit to Scotland.
That day, February 13, police revealed that a package also containing white powder had been sent to the Houses of Parliament. The target was said to be Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
Malicious
That substance too was found to be harmless. Police are understood to be investigating whether the two incidents are linked.
A Yard spokesman said yesterday: “Police are investigating after a package containing a substance was delivered to St James’s Palace on Monday, February 12.
“The substance was tested and confirmed as non-suspicious. Officers are also investigating an allegation of malicious communications which relates to the same package and is being treated as a racist hate crime.”
Actress Meghan, 36, is an American of mixed race. There have been numerous cases of hoaxes involving white powder sent in the post since 2001, when five people were killed in the US after receiving packages containing anthrax, an acute infection caused by the spore-forming bacteria Bacillus anthracis.
It creates flu-like symptoms and distinctive skin sores. Victims can get the infection by breathing or eating the bacteria, or through skin contact. Earlier this month US President Donald Trump’s daughter-inlaw Vanessa was taken to hospital as a precaution after opening a package addressed to her husband, Donald Trump Junior, containing a white powder that ultimately proved harmless.
Last night Dai Davies, a retired Met chief superintendent and former head of royal protection, warned that police will have to be vigilant to protect Harry, 33, and his bride-tobe. The couple are due to tie the knot at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on May 19 followed by a carriage ride around the town to greet crowds immediately afterwards.
“Weddings and celebrations always bring out the worst in individuals and organisations,” Mr Davies said. “What it shows is that this is an early warning shot. The system works but vigilance is the watchword.
“Back in the 1970s and 1980s it wasn’t uncommon for people to send a variety of substances through the post. Those protecting the Royal Family need to be aware of history because history has a tendency to repeat itself.”