Anger at Prince Harry
“You can’t just hire the police”
Prince Harry doesn’t feel protected enough.
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Prince Harry calls for police protection in Great Britain – and threatens legal action. He encounters a lack of understanding among experts.
Prince Harry (37) threatens legal action against the British government: With the discussion about police protection for him and his family, Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson (95) causes a lot of outrage. The Duke of Sussex appears to be seeking a judicial review of a Home Office decision. Prince Harry says it’s too dangerous to visit the UK without Scotland Yard protection. However, the “Daily Mail” quotes an insider: “Scotland Yard cannot simply be rented.”
The fact that a member of the royal family is considering taking legal action against the British government causes incomprehension. As “The Mail on Sunday” reported, Prince Harry’s lawyers are said to have written a letter to the Home Office. It allegedly said a court would be called if Harry’s family were not given police protection while they were in the UK, which the Sussexes said they would pay for themselves.
Cops don’t “sit idle”
Even if the taxpayer does not have to pay for Harry’s police protection, experts say, according to the Daily Mail, that his request is problematic. The Scotland Yard Police Department does not have a pool of specially trained officers sitting around doing nothing: “You can’t just ask for Scotland Yard’s services at will.”
Prince Harry and his wife Duchess Meghan (40) resigned from their royal duties two years ago. They live in the USA with their two children Archie (2) and Lilibet (seven months). The family are automatically protected by royal security when they visit the Queen or stay at her home in Windsor, which is on the Queen’s private estate, according to the report. However, when Harry and Meghan are engaged in professional or charitable activities in the UK, security issues seem more complicated.
Return excluded?
According to the newspaper, Buckingham Palace said the discussion about police protection was “a matter for the Home Office and the Sussexes” and that it had never commented on security issues. A representative for Prince Harry, meanwhile, has said the royal is seeking a judicial review to see if it’s legal not to be given self-paid police protection. Without such protection, Prince Harry and his family could not return to his homeland, it is said.
The journalist Kate Mansey published the statement on Twitter: “Prince Harry inherited a security risk with his birth and that for a lifetime,” it says. He is still sixth in line to the throne, “has twice served in combat in Afghanistan and in recent years his family has been exposed to verifiable threats from neo-Nazis and extremists.” His role within the monarchy has changed, but he remains a member of the royal family and faces threats, the statement said. The Sussexes’ private security team cannot provide the protection required in the UK. Therefore, without protection from law enforcement officers, the family would not be able to return to Harry’s home country for appointments or events.