Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was photographed driving near his home on the Sandringham estate with a large red mark on his right cheek, a visible bruise-like blemish that instantly put Prince Andrew back in view. A dog could be seen in the filthy Land Rover with him as he drove in the rain, appearing to be accompanied by a member of his security team.
The sighting matters because he has hardly been seen in public since a security scare while he was dog walking on the estate last month. On the day he was photographed, the mark on his face was the most immediate sign that the royal, now living at Marsh Farm in Norfolk after renovation work was completed earlier this year, was being seen again after a long stretch out of sight.
What caused the injury remains unclear. It is not known how he sustained the mark, and the timing only adds to the attention around him as he prepares for a court appearance on July 29 at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where he is expected to give evidence at a trial tied to allegations that a man threatened him near his home on the Sandringham Estate.
The case centers on Alex Jenkinson, 39, of no fixed address, who is charged with two counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to harass someone or cause alarm or distress. One charge relates to an alleged incident last month in King's Lynn, Norfolk, where he is accused of threatening Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor; he is also accused of threatening Stephen Terry the day before. Jenkinson denies both charges.
For Andrew, the image does not answer the question that now hangs over the sighting: how did he get the bruise? It only makes the next date on the calendar more pointed, because the court will soon bring him back into a public setting where his own account, not the photograph, will matter most.
