Prince Harry should get ‘bespoke’ police protection when he’s in the UK

Last Wednesday, Prince Andrew was “accosted” in Norfolk, while he was out in public and walking his dogs. The would-be assailant (I guess that’s what we should call him) wore a ski mask and brandished a crowbar. Andrew was uninjured, mostly because he still has private security and the security guys quickly got Andrew out of there. Andrew allegedly does not have royal protection anymore, so his private security is paid by King Charles. This is apparently a big reminder that whenever Prince Harry visits the UK, he does not have royal protection either, nor does Charles privately pay for any security arrangements for his son. In fact, Harry’s request for a risk assessment was accepted last year, and there’s still no information about whether the Home Office and Ravec have determined that Harry and his family should receive police protection. It actually looks like the royal operatives in Ravec are trying to pull a fast one and deny Harry’s protection again. Well, Tom Sykes for the Daily Beast wrote a weird piece in which he argues that “the attack” on Andrew proves why the Sussexes need police protection.

Harry has been made aware of the attack on Andrew, I am told, and while he has not yet shared his reaction with the sources I spoke to, they said it’s reasonable to assume he will be totally freaked out and will now double down on his position that he simply cannot bring Meghan and the children back to the UK without a comprehensive security package in place.

Whatever you think of Harry, or the sometimes foolish ways in which he has made the security situation worse for himself, the attempted attack on Andrew shows that a way must be found to make Harry secure when he visits Britain. A decision urgently needs to be made. The difficulty for the royal family and the British government is that they do not want to make it easy for Harry to come back.

That’s the whole principle of royal exile—the playbook as developed in the case of Edward VIII. Edward was also arguably more respectful of the Crown’s wishes, not least because he depended on an allowance from the Crown, which gave the Palace leverage. They don’t have that leverage over Harry. The only lever they have is security.

As things stand, Harry is supposed to receive a bespoke security package whenever he visits the U.K. He is required to give 30 days’ notice, and RAVEC—the Royal and VIP Executive Committee—then makes a case-by-case decision about what protection he receives. The trouble is that his side argues this process has not been conducted in good faith. They say the security provisions have been derisory. On multiple occasions, they claim, the so-called bespoke package had amounted to a phone number for a police liaison officer.

And then, of course, there have been the incidents. In September last year, a known stalker—a woman I encountered myself at the Royal Courts of Justice during Harry’s trial against Associated Newspapers—managed to get within feet of him on two separate occasions during a London visit. She breached a secure zone at the Royal Lancaster Hotel during the WellChild Awards, and two days later turned up at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies. There was no police presence at the time, so it was left to a member of Harry’s private office staff to body-block her.

His side points to the fact that other members of the royal family—minor royals who attract a fraction of the public interest and threat profile that Harry does—continue to receive armed police protection.

Harry is also incredibly frustrated by the fact that he has absolutely no insight into what is happening with the RAVEC review of his security. He and his team do not even know whether a decision will come before he is due to return to the United Kingdom for an Invictus Games event in Birmingham this summer. What they are very clear about, however, is this: unless the security situation changes—specifically when it comes to preventing what they describe as known and documented threats against his wife and his children—there is no chance that Meghan, Archie, and Lilibet will come to Britain, unless it is in the context of a private invite from the King to Balmoral or Sandringham.

(You could argue that this suits the royal family perfectly well. Why would they want Meghan and the children swanning around, selling products, diverting attention, undermining the work of the working royal family?)

If something were to happen, it would be catastrophic, not just for Harry, but for the United Kingdom, the monarchy and the country’s reputation in the world. I understand why the establishment is so concerned about Harry getting full security privileges restored. It effectively means he can pitch up at Heathrow whenever he likes, dial a number, and trigger a statutory obligation for police escorts and armed bodyguards for him, for Meghan, for the children. I understand why the Palace does not want that. I understand the nightmare scenario: Harry turns up on the day of Trooping the Color and stages a competing royal event down the road. I get it. I am not naive about the political dimension. But the time has come to untangle status from safety. Security as a marker of royal rank needs to be separated from security as protection from danger.

I think, in practice, the answer is going to be some form of beefed-up version of the current bespoke arrangement: Harry still gives notice of a visit. There are caveats and conditions; perhaps it is limited to a certain number of days per year. But when he is on British soil, he gets proper protection.

[From The Daily Beast]

The longer this goes on, with the months clicking by since the Home Office agreed to a risk assessment, I think there’s another unspoken factor too – the palace, Ravec and Downing Street are all terrified of what happens when they try to deny security to the Sussexes, and Harry subsequently calls them out publicly, like he did last year with his BBC News interview. All Harry has ever wanted was for Ravec to take the politics out of the security issue – if they reject his need for security for the Invictus events, Harry will absolutely jump in front of a camera and call out all of these motherf–kers yet again. And yet again, the palace and the government will look like dumbasses. I think that’s why there’s been no announcement either way – they can’t figure out how to simultaneously reject Harry’s security needs while also avoiding being called out by Harry, who will easily put a spotlight on their bullsh-t.

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