Does a video of a heckler, who was assaulted after shouting at Prince Andrew, show a 2026 incident? No, that's not true: The video is authentic, but was more than three years old at the time of the former Duke of York's arrest on suspicion of "misconduct in office". It shows the October 2022 procession carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to St. Giles' Cathedral. The video was reposted on social media with the suggestion that "some people can't be saved" after the former Duke of York was arrested on Feb. 19, 2026.
The old video resurfaced in a post (archived here) published on X by @ArchewellBaby on Feb. 20, 2026. It was captioned:
Watching a young man get assaulted by the British public for calling Prince Andrew a Sick man. Some people can't be saved
This is a screenshot of the video:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot from x.com/ArchewellBaby/status/2024722833692147955.)
The caption, written in the present tense, implies this footage shows a current event. But this footage dates back to Sept. 12, 2022 and shows an incident which happened during the procession carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to the St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The heckler did shout "Andrew, you're a sick old man." before he was taken into custody.
An Oct. 2, 2022 article (archived here) in The Guardian reported that three people had been arrested. The 22-year-old heckler was arrested "in connection with a breach of the peace" and the two 34-year-old men in the crowd were arrested "in connection with assault". Later Guardian reporting (archived here) on Nov. 22, 2022 stated that the heckler would not face court and that "the case was dealt with by way of an offer of an alternative to prosecution."
A Dec. 3, 2022 article (archived here) in the Scottish Sun reported that the assault charges for the two 34-year-old men had also been dropped:
The Crown later revealed there would be "no proceedings" against the pair after "careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, including the available admissible evidence.
One of those men, Craig Thomson, was interviewed for the article. His telling of the story serves as a caution when it comes to assuming motives behind actions captured on video. Here are some quotes from Thomson which appeared in the article:
- As the King and the rest of the Royals approached where I was, all I could hear was this man shouting. I could not make out what he was saying, all I could hear was noise.
- I was worried about what he was going to do. It may sound daft but I thought he was going to jump the fence and attack the King.
- There's a time and a place to be shouting -- and that wasn't it. It was a funeral procession for the Queen.
- I restrained him to get him back from the fence. I certainly did not assault him. I put my hands on his shoulders and I pulled him back. The weight difference probably meant that I pulled him a bit harder than what I meant to. The man ended up falling backwards and landing on the ground.
