HARRY JETS OUT... WITH POLICE IN TOW
£100k-a-time British officers on plane with him to Canada
THE cost of protecting Harry and Meghan as they embark on their new life in Canada was called into question yesterday as it emerged that they have at least six taxpayer-funded royal protection officers with them.
Arriving on Vancouver Island to be reunited with his wife and baby son Archie on Monday night, the Duke of Sussex was seen at the local airport with four Metropolitan Police bodyguards.
There would have been another two guarding
Meghan and Archie at the couple’s borrowed £10.7million mansion, in addition to any other officers providing back-up.
The £60,000-a-year police protection officers will be paid overtime, and will be sent back to the UK to be replaced every two weeks.
Experts said the cost will amount to a minimum of £100,000-a-year per officer including flights, pension contributions and living expenses. Following their decision to stand down as senior royals and give up royal duties, as well as the use of their HRH titles, the couple will now base themselves in Canada for the next year at least.
On Monday, Harry boarded a British Airways flight from Heathrow to Vancouver after one of his final official engagements as a working royal at the UK-Africa Summit in London.
He skipped a reception thrown by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the evening in order to get as early a flight as possible.
Harry flew on to Vancouver Island via WestJet, landing at Victoria airport at around 9.45pm. Officials at the airport closed the third-floor public viewing area shortly before he landed.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said yesterday that there must be a ‘line of delineation’ over who funds the family’s security in North America. ‘I think there is an issue about how public money is spent,’ he said.
‘Quite clearly there have already been arrangements made about how that family are going to live and how they are going to be able to get private income but there clearly has to be a line of delineation.
‘I think we all want a family like that to be safe, but at the same time what really needs to happen is they need to understand how their lifestyle is to adapt and what their needs might be.’
Pressed on Sky News about whether the UK taxpayer should fund the Sussexes while they are in Canada, Mr Buckland said: ‘I don’t have an easy
‘Serious implications’
answer to that, I don’t know at the moment what precisely their arrangements are going to be.
‘I am, of course, concerned to make sure that taxpayers’ money is used effectively in order to provide protection to people who are offering a service to the British public.’
Although Scotland Yard officers are extremely experienced in travelling abroad for royal tours, having British police stationed abroad on a more permanent basis would not only be extremely expensive, but would also raise serious legal concerns.
They would have no powers to operate in Canada over the long-term. Their movements and whether they could carry firearms would be strictly by agreement with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), known as the ‘Mounties’.
But if they were to harm someone in the course of their duties or if there was a complaint about the conduct of an officer operating abroad, it could present a legal quagmire.
One source said: ‘You could have serious implications if a warranted officer exceeded his powers in a foreign country or had to kill someone to protect their principal.’
For this reason, security experts believe that if the couple choose to remain in Canada their long-term protection will be provided by the Mounties, but paid for by British taxpayers.
No final decision on their security arrangements has been made, partly because Scotland Yard is awaiting details from the couple themselves about their detailed plans.
But it is thought that if they live in Canada the RCMP will assemble a protection team, with the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service assisting in assessing the threat to the couple.
Former mountie Larry Busch, who has protected the Royal Family, estimated the couple would need a protection team of 24 RCMP officers at an annual cost of £1.2million.
He predicted that the Canadian government would have to agree a ‘cost-sharing’ deal with the UK.
Mr Busch, who runs his own firm, Strategic Security, said: ‘Hollywood people [who visit Canada] get security provided by private companies. Politicians will get security provided by police officers and that would be the case here.’
Yesterday locals spoke of their excitement at Harry and Meghan’s arrival on Vancouver Island. ‘Yes, they have been spotted in the park and at the local deli,’ said one.
Royal sources confirmed yesterday that the Sussexes will carry out a small number of official engagements as part of a ‘transition period’ between now and the spring before they formally step down from their positions.