A man has denied threatening Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after reports the former prince was accosted near his Sandringham home earlier this week.
Alex Jenkinson, 39, pleaded not guilty at Westminster magistrates court on Friday to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence against the former duke of York.
Jenkinson is expected to stand trial at the same court on 29 July, when Mountbatten-Windsor intends to give evidence via videolink, according to the prosecutor, Josephine Jones.
Jones told the court there “certainly is a suggestion” that Jenkinson had an interest in Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal status by his brother, the king, in November. “Whether that extends to any other members of the royal family, I don’t think I can say that,” she added.
Mountbatten-Windsor was walking his dogs close to his Marsh Farm home in Wolferton, Norfolk, when the incident allegedly occurred, shortly after 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Jenkinson, who appeared at court via videolink, gave his address as Debenham in Suffolk and pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen of blood while in custody on the same day.
He pleaded not guilty to a further charge of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence against another man, Stephen Terry, in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, on 6 May.
Jenkinson was granted conditional bail on the understanding that he would not try to contact Mountbatten-Windsor, enter Norfolk, or go near the royal residences of Sandringham, Balmoral, Windsor, Highgrove and Buckingham Palace.