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Hamza bin Laden was the Bonny Prince Charlie of al Qaeda.聽Like the Jacobite leader, he gave die-hard followers the hope that the next generation would bring them victory.

He was a figurehead.

His reported death is largely symbolic, but significant nonetheless.

Hamza bin Laden symbolised the continuity and survival of the al Qaeda brand.

His demise undermines both.

Hamza bin Laden was not an operational threat, as his father had been.

He was not capable of planning or organising attacks, even if he was being groomed for such a role.

The threat he posed was as an inspiration to followers, both in words and what he represented.

Before his death, which is thought to have happened some time ago, he issued messages exhorting supporters to attack America and Saudi Arabia.

He was introduced in his first message four years ago as "a young lion to carry forth the cause".

The legend of Osama bin Laden was powerful enough to be passed on to the next generation.

Al Qaeda survivors had hoped to resurrect the brand he cynically created by killing so many innocent people.

While any of the mass murderer's progeny survived they had a much better chance of doing so.

There has even been speculation that he could have been a unifying figure in any effort to join al Qaeda with its even more extreme offshoot, Islamic State. He seems to have avoided criticising IS in his messages.

But any discussion of his potential threat should be qualified.

Even if he had assumed a leadership role, he was, unlike the last Stuart pretender, untested in battle.

And the organisation his father created is being rolled up by the CIA, with one figure after another being killed.

His untimely demise reinforces the impression that al Qaeda has nowhere left to run.

The psychopaths it thrust on the world have one by one been either destroyed or captured.

As we submit to ever more inconvenient and rigorous airport security this summer the men more responsible for it than any others remain on trial.

Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, for want of a better word, languishes with his co accused in Guantanamo Bay in a military commission process so long and drawn out that it may outlast the movement they made infamous.

But one key name remains.

Ayman al Zawahiri.

The Egyptian surgeon who helped found al Qaeda remains at large, hunted by US intelligence and likely lurking in the border territory between Afghanistan and Pakistan where Hamza most likely was tracked down and killed.

The young bin Laden's death means the bell tolls ever louder for Zawahiri - wherever he is hiding.