Sussexes told to stay in US for the Jubilee
PRINCE Harry and wife Meghan Markle should play no part in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations this year, says a poll.
Almost half – 42 per cent – do not want to see the couple feature in any of the festivities marking the Monarch’s reign.
Less than a third (30 per cent) believe the Duke and Duchess of Sussex should take part in the celebrations, a Sunday Express opinion poll reveals today.
The results come just two days after the first hearing of Harry legal bid to challenge the Government’s refusal to provide police protection for him and his wife when they visit this country.
He was stripped of his taxpayer-funded bodyguards when he and Meghan decided to step down as senior royals and live in America, where they pay for their roundthe-clock security team.
A judge is expected to rule imminently on whether the prince can pursue his case further with a judicial review of the Government’s decision.
However, today’s latest poll suggests most people would prefer Harry and Meghan to stay at home.
Polling was commissioned by the Sunday Express and carried out by Redfield & Wilton Strategies last week – before Harry’s lawyers told the High Court on Friday that the prince “does not feel safe” in Britain.
He has claimed his security was “compromised” during a visit to England last summer for the unveiling of a statue of his
mother, Princess Diana, with his brother, Prince William. It is understood the Duke’s car was chased by photographers as he left a separate charity event in Kew Gardens, south-west London. Harry said on this occasion his private security team did not have access to British intelligence information or possess police powers.
At Friday’s preliminary High Court hearing, lawyers for the Home Office challenged his assertion that he had offered to pay for Scotland Yard protection during that visit.
They also accused him of failing to show “respect” to the experts who make decisions on security for the Royal Family – the Executive Committee
for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as Ravec.
In today’s Sunday Express, royal author Margaret Holder praises the Queen’s stoicism in the face of a string of continuing scandals in her family as “a world away” from Andrew’s abandoned court case, the cash-for-honours scandal around Charles’s charity and Harry’s legal tussle with the Government over his security.
It is not yet known if Harry will attend next month’s memorial service for Prince Philip. A total of 1,500 respondents were asked to what extent, if at all, do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Prince Harry and Meghan should have a role in the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations?