Two-thirds of the public oppose taxpayer-funded security for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now that they are back in Britain, a poll for The i Paper has revealed.
The BMG survey shows that 66 per cent of Britons believe the couple should pay for the measures themselves, while 18 per cent say the protection should be partly state-funded and partly private.
Just 6 per cent believe their security should be fully funded by the taxpayer. The remainder, 13 per cent, said they did not know.
The poll shows that there is very little public support for the couple’s campaign to have the same levels of official protection, overseen by the Home Office and Metropolitan Police, that is assigned to senior working members of the Royal Family.
Prince Harry, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, returned to the UK last Wednesday to begin a new life in the UK after six years living in California.
With the family said to be settling in Britain for an “extended period” of time, and the children starting the new school term in September, a fresh debate has been sparked over their security arrangements.
They have had no UK police protection since their return to the country, but the Home Office has ordered a review of the risks the Prince and his family face.
It emerged on Sunday that the Prince has accused the head of the committee that revoked his state-funded security of failing to inform him about a 2023 threat from al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks.
Harry wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood this month asking her to take a personal role in determining whether his family receive close police protection, The Sunday Times reported.
In the letter, his legal team is understood to have alleged that the chair of the executive committee for the protection of royalty and public figures (Ravec) was aware of a threat made by al-Qaeda but did not pass this to his security staff or to the authorities in the US, where the family were at the time.
The Prince, a former soldier who served in Afghanistan, previously insisted it was too dangerous to bring his wife and children to the UK with the security he was entitled to after the couple stepped down as working royals and left for the US in 2020.
Harry subject of ‘six Taliban threats or plots’
It is understood there have been at least six threats or plots concerning the Duke from the Taliban, al-Qaeda or their supporters since 2007.
In late 2023, intelligence was passed to the FBI through Five Eyes – an intelligence-gathering alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US – about an al-Qaeda document referencing the “assassination” of Harry.
In 2012, a Taliban spokesman announced an operation to kill or kidnap the Prince, while in 2010 there were threats to shoot down Harry’s Apache helicopter and capture him if he returned to Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, ITV reported that Harry was the focus of six terrorist plots, five of which originated in the UK, according to a security report.
The report, commissioned by Harry’s own private security firm, details dozens of threats and potential attacks facing the Duke and Duchess, and was sent to Ravec.
A long-awaited risk assessment, carried out on the orders of Ravec, is said to have taken place at the end of July, but Harry reportedly does not know the result.
Harry previously lost a legal battle against the Home Office over the security arrangements for him and his family while in the UK.
He has also said he faces a greater risk than his late mother, with “additional layers of racism and extremism” and that his family faces an “international threat”.
Individual decisions on protective security for key public figures, including members of the Royal Family, are made by Ravec, which includes the Home Office, Metropolitan Police and Royal Household.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham would previously not be drawn on Harry and Meghan’s security arrangements in the UK, saying the funding for it was a “private matter”.
BMG surveyed a representative sample of 1,579 GB adults between 25 and 26 August. BMG are members of the British Polling Council and abide by its rules.Hence then, the article about public say harry and meghan should pay for their own security on uk return was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Public say Harry and Meghan should pay for their own security on UK return )
Also on site :