Last summer, the King and Queen were quickly escorted to safety due to security concerns during their visit to Jersey.
During the King and Queen’s visit to Jersey last summer, the royal couple experienced a security scare and were rushed to safety. They had been happily chatting with stallholders in the centre of St Helier when a thr3at was realised, prompting their police protection team to usher them into a nearby hotel.
Once the area had been deemed safe, they were allowed to resume their engagements outside. But now it appears the incident was not a credible thr3at, but a man on a roof trying to startle birds.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Hafey from the States of Jersey Police, who was the Silver Commander for the royal visit, has spoken out on the commotion for the first time. The DCI, who led the tactical response to any issue, told ITV News that they had to take the thr3at seriously.
“The main bit at that time is to get the King and Queen into an area where we know they’re 100% safe and that happened really quickly,” he said.
“The officers who were managing the firearms command stepped in and took control. It was a false alarm, my understanding is someone was on a roof trying to startle some birds.
“I don’t think you can overreact in those situations because the safety of the King and Queen is paramount, all the officers involved just followed their training.”
The incident occurred during the King and Queen’s two-day trip to the Channel Islands last July. They visited Jersey before heading to Guernsey.
Charles and Camilla were on Weighbridge Place in St Helier, touring the Jersey Expo, when the security alert was detected.
They had been enjoying touring each of the stands and were about to sample some Jersey ice cream before their security team advised them they had to cut the visit short.
They were ushered towards the Pomme D’or hotel – where they were scheduled to attend a tea party later that afternoon – but the King stopped to shake some hands en route before his security ushered him along.
After a short while, they exited the hotel and resumed their scheduled course of engagements.
Matt Taylor, founder of Jersey Sea Salt, was chatting to the King when his protection officer approached him and told him he had to leave immediately.
He said: “He stopped at the stall and said ‘Ooh sea salt’ and I said ‘come and have a chat, Sir’. Then his security appeared and asked me to move as the King had to leave right away. He didn’t seem panicked but he was quite stern. They just ushered him out. It’s a shame as he’d stopped to chat to us of his own accord.”
