Prince Harry has been denied automatic security protection after he stepped down from frontline royal duties and moved to California, where he lives with Meghan Markle and their two children
Prince Harry left frontline royal duties and now lives in the US (Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Prince Harry will have to wait for a decision on his security arrangements in the UK as officials deal with protecting nine ex-Prime Ministers.
The Duke of Sussex had been told he would be granted a risk management board at the end of 2025 that would reassess if he should be given automatic protection each time he visits the UK. The review had been due to be carried out in March by an independent body, but it has yet to take place.
It has since emerged the backlog is in part due to a struggle to cover high-level security for politicians, including nine ex Prime Ministers. In order to cope with demand, a temporary pause was ordered for about four months by officials.
Prince Harry has sought security in the UK (Image: Getty Images)
A source with knowledge of the Risk Management Board process said: “It is a rather incoherent argument from the Home Office to respond to a reported “backlog” by temporarily pausing Risk Management Boards (RMBs). If there is a backlog because demand is high, the obvious response would be to allocate more resources to clear it – not to stop conducting them altogether.
“The stakes could hardly be higher. These assessments exist to help keep people safe. Those intent on harming politicians, public servants and other high-profile individuals are unlikely to suspend their plans while the Home Office catches up administratively.”
Prince Harry needs to give a month’s notice to officials about his security arrangement (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
They added: “Protective security in this country has been underfunded and overstretched for years. More troubling still, I am told by those with direct knowledge that highly trained close protection officers are now routinely being redeployed to other policing duties simply to plug gaps elsewhere. If that is true, it raises serious questions about whether protective security is being given the priority it deserves.
“If the pause really was the result of a backlog, then the question is not whether RMBs should have been delayed, but why the system was ever allowed to reach this point. Why has protective security been permitted to fall into such an obviously precarious state? And why are we not investing the resources necessary to protect those whose public roles make them potential targets?”
Harry stepped down as a working member of the royal family and was told at the time he would lose the automatic right to police security. He now must give a month’s notice ahead of every visit to Britain and the risk will be evaluated before his security is granted.
On each return to the UK, Harry has been declined full protection. He also lost a court battle against the Home Office in May last year.
