Critics call for Duke to pay security bill as private citizen

THE Duke of York yesterday faced calls to pay for his own security as the fallout from his civil sex case continued.

Despite stepping back from official duties more than two years ago, as a senior royal he has continued to receive round-the-clock Scotland Yard protection at an estimated annual cost of £2million to the taxpayer.

Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday that the Duke would not be returning to public duties and would no longer use his HRH title. He has also been stripped of all military titles and patronages.

Damian Hinds. the security minister, refused to confirm whether the Duke would still receive taxpayer-funded security. Speaking on LBC, Mr Hinds said: “Our security forces, the police and others, do what they judge is necessary to protect our country, to protect people in it.” He said it was a “long-standing principle that we don’t talk about who and how in particular”.

When pushed, he said: “I know this is going to come across to you possibly … like me obfuscating and avoiding the question, and I suppose maybe even in some ways it is avoiding the question, but only because it is right to say that the police and our wider security forces do what is right and proportionate to protect the people of this country. “And we don’t publicise exactly what that covers.”

Retired Chief Supt Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection, this week suggested that whether the Duke was still afforded specialist protection would be based entirely around intelligence and the perceived threat level.

But Graham Smith, chief executive officer of the organisation Republic, called on the Queen’s second son to foot the bill for his own protection, now that he is essentially a “private citizen”.

Mr Smith, whose organisation campaigns for an elected head of state, said: “Given that he’s no longer … a member of the royal household it does make sense he pays for his own security.”