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Was Kate Middleton being at Sarah Everard's vigil illegal? Met chief slammed for saying duchess ‘was working’

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick was slammed online for confirming that the gathering on March 13 was deemed illegal, but Kate being there was not because 'She's in the course of her duties, she was working'

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, has been trolled and has been receiving an increasing amount of backlash over how her attending of the Sarah Everard vigil had been legal, but other citizens doing the same got them detained by the cops. 

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick went on to confirm that the gathering on March 13 in Clapham Common in London was deemed illegal, but despite the same, Kate being present at the gathering was portrayed like the Duchess of Cambridge "working".

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Contrary to this, however, Kate had claimed that she had attended the gathering in a personal capacity to pay her respects to the 33-year-old Everard. The police commissioner who appeared on the 'Today' program on Wednesday also confirmed that the force was aware of the Duchess of Cambridge attending the gathering beforehand. 

While video footage of the gathering released seemed to show that the police were heavy-handed with those who attended the gathering and had led to a watchdog probe, it was reported that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) deemed the force to have acted appropriately. Dick said on the show, "The Met did know, absolutely, but of course we take all sorts of precautions to make sure that we don't unwittingly draw attention to visits like that."

The commissioner was then asked if Kate was there legally and responded, "I would imagine that, of course I have not asked her this question, but I think it's worth looking at ... just how strongly people felt, what she said about her attendance there." She added, "She's in the course of her duties, she was working."

Dick also said, "At that point people had a whole series of potential reasonable excuses for being away from home, we didn't all have them. I've picked out one that may apply to her but, let's be clear, there was a very calm vigil to which she attended where lots and lots of people came." She also said that the vigil that was held in remembrance of Everard was deemed to be an unlawful gathering.

Expressing how they had come to this conclusion, she added, "It was clearly possible under the law for somebody who lived locally to walk as many did and lay flowers legally, there are other reasons why people might be in the area and they could have laid flowers calmly and peacefully, potentially legally."

Dick then expressed, "You would have seen for six hours we did not enforce any laws, we showed some discretion and we allowed people to carry on. We knew that it would result in a mass gathering, we knew there would be large numbers, we knew who would come, we knew it would be unlawful."

Finally, the commissioner also said, "I had a great deal of contact both with City Hall at the most senior levels and with senior members of the Government," and added, "What I was saying consistently was this is likely to be illegal, if it is illegal and people do not disperse when they're asked to do so, we will use as much discretion as we can, we will encourage people, we will try to get them to disperse, but if they don't disperse we will end up arresting people."

This was seen by many on the internet as deferential treatment considering how on one hand citizens were detained for being at an "unlawful" gathering while Kate being present was categorized as work. One user on Twitter wrote, "I understand Cressida Dick has just said that Kate Middleton was lawfully at the vigil because she was ‘working’. Looking forward to seeing how the Met now distinguish and justify arresting the legal observers *actually* working at the protest the following day."

Another wrote, "Hi @metpoliceuk if Kate Middleton was lawfully at the Sarah Everard vigil because she was ‘working’, presumably you’ll shortly be confirming that the Legal Observers you arrested the next day were lawfully there too, meaning you’re very sorry for detaining them?"

Another user commented, "Kate Middleton’s JOB was attending a vigil? While organisers of the vigil she was apparently working for were beaten and harassed? Abolish the monarchy henny." One user called the monarchy cancer, and then wrote, "The lies that people are willing to tell to protect Kate Middleton’s image (we already know that her character is flawed and weak) is indicative of the malignant effect of the monarchy on the country. It’s a cancer."