Not the only royals with out security
MEGHAN insisted that as a former waitress and actress, the ‘grandeur’ of royal titles held no attachment to her — until she discovered it meant Archie would not get his own security detail unless he was a prince. She says she was informed in the ‘last few months of our pregnancy’ that ‘he wasn’t going to receive security’.
But her claims are hotly disputed by royal officials. One described her logic as ‘ridiculous’, saying it had always been made clear that as long as Harry was a working royal, he, his wife and their children would receive security from Scotland Yard’s royal protection squad.
There is a precedent for this: 24-hour protection was given to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, daughters of the (then) working royal Prince Andrew, until 2011 when, following a review of their protection, it was withdrawn.
During the interview, Harry further claimed it was while he and Meghan were in Canada, during the early part of last year, that he received ‘short notice’ their security ‘was going to be removed’. He said he was told this reflected their ‘change in status’, and he demanded to know if there had been a ‘change of threat or risk’.
He told Oprah: ‘I never thought that I would have my security removed because I was born into this position — I inherited the risk. So that was a shock to me. That was what completely changed the whole plan.’
In truth, the decision to remove publicly funded security was a political one.
The Sussexes continued to be protected by a team of six Scotland Yard officers during the first part of their exile in Canada. But once it became clear they were no longer working royals and wanted to be private citizens, it became impossible for the Palace to argue that taxpayers should
foot the bill. Canada, too, baulked at having to pick up the estimated £1 million annual cost.
A more balanced interviewer than Oprah might have asked Harry why he believed the UK should pay for his police protection, once he had stopped serving the Crown. After all, there are plenty of royals (including Princess Anne and Prince Edward) who do not enjoy round-the-clock protection.
Furthermore, Harry appears to have mythologised the idea that security was removed from his mother — leading to her death — when, in fact, Diana asked for it to be taken away, several years before her fatal accident.