The Princess of Wales and her husband William, the future King and elder brother of the troubled Prince Harry, visited a Muslim Centre in London on Thursday, with the princess donning an Islamic hijab for the occasion.
Princess Catherine, still better known as Kate Middleton to most British and Commonwealth citizens, or as the Duchess of Cambridge — as she was before the Queen died and her husband inherited his father the King’s former titles — visited the Hayes Muslim Centre in London with her husband William, the Prince of Wales, to recognise their efforts raising money for the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal.
Also known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay when in Scotland, it is reported that “as a mark of respect the couple removed their shoes and Kate covered her head with a scarf”, described by MailOnline as “a black and white veil by Pakistani brand Élan… part of a set worn by the mother-of-three when she visited the country in 2019.”
This “mark of respect” may prove controversial in some quarters, however, as far from the gesture being a case of “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” the future King and Queen were in London, the capital city of a country that is still officially Christian — at least in theory.
Indeed, there have been particular complaints in recent weeks of the British state showing an exaggerated deference to Islam following a high-profile incident in which four school pupils, a “highly autistic” boy of 14 chief among them, dropped a Qur’an they owned at school, resulting in a very minor tear on its cover and a smudged page.
All four were suspended and the autistic boy’s mother, wearing a headscarf, was hauled into a kind of struggle session in which a local Muslim population, an imam, and representatives from the local police force oversaw her apologising to “the community”, with declarations by the imam that “slightest bit of disrespect” to their book would not be “tolerated” met with cries of “Allahu akbar!”
Death threats against the boy were investigated only belatedly, after the incident went viral — but with the police still offering mere “words of advice” to a suspect they spoke to.
Not far from the school in Batley, a teacher remains in hiding years after he showed images of the Islamic prophet during a class on freedom of expression, which resulted in Muslims picketing the school and death threats being issued.
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