Security jitters saw King Charles and Queen Camilla hustled out of a public event on the island of Jersey on Monday, as the global protection industry reels from the fallout of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
In a sobering reminder of the precarious relationship between the public engagement of the monarchy and their safety in an unpredictable world, the king and queen were attending an art exhibit in the capital of the island, St. Helier, when members of their security team cut short the visit and whisked them away to the sanctuary of a nearby hotel.
Children who had been scheduled to meet the royals at the exhibition were instead taken to the hotel so that they did not miss out on the encounter.
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The atmosphere on the island in the English channel, which is a British Crown dependency, uses both its own currency and sterling and recognizes Charles as king, had been festive as Charles and Camilla mingled with locals and tourists. But the mood shifted dramatically as plain clothes security personnel surrounded the king and queen and hurried them away from public view.
Of course it was entirely predictable that in the days following the shooting of Donald Trump, nerves would be on edge. However official palace sources subsequently told The Daily Beast that a “small issue of concern” turned out to be “a false alarm.”
It was, however, a graphic illustration of a security industry on tenterhooks, and the shockwaves the attempt on Donald Trump’s life, which came so close to succeeding and plunging America into unimaginable chaos, has sent through the global security apparatus, emphasizing the ever-present risks faced by high-profile public figures.
