Prince Harry's security concerns discussed by Palmer

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Prince Harry has been embroiled in a legal fight with the Home Office after being denied permission to benefit from an expertly trained security detail whilst visiting the UK. The Duke of Sussex’s lawyers earlier this year said he was refused the protection after offering to personally pay expenses, with the Home Office claiming the officers could not be privately compensated. But security expert Richard Aitch insisted there is “no excuse” the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan Markle cannot be afforded the same level of protection as other royals.

Speaking to Royally Us, Mr Aitch said: “It’s vitally important that Prince Harry receives a proper, the right and proper protection.

“There is no other reasoning, or excuse, or exemption, or anything laid down where Harry should not actually be afforded this protection.

“It will make all the difference. You can’t expect a poorly trained private security industry – and I’m talking on the global scale, not just in the UK – anywhere near the same level of protection as the Government.”

Mr Aitch also pointed out a key paradox in the argument against granting the Sussexes police protection as he reviewed the arrangements for the Duke and Duchess’s return for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

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He continued: “They had a cast-iron assurance that they’d be provided police protection during that. They obviously had some dispensation.

“On one hand, you have the UK Home Office stating that Prince Harry shouldn’t be afforded, he shouldn’t be provided police protection as a citizen.

“Yet here he is, coming to the UK for a royal publicised event, and they turn around and say, ‘yes, you can have police protection now.’

“There has to be a balance here.”

However, former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe suggested Prince Harry may have “overplayed” his hand with his second challenge to the Home Office.

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Mr Wharfe said: “I don’t know who he advised him to take legal action against the British government and the Metropolitan Police.

“I think it was an unwise thing to do because that in essence raises negative publicity.

“He is a prince of the realm, you can’t change that, he will be Prince Harry for the rest of his life unless he decides to change that.

“Despite the fact he is living in California, nobody is barring him from the United Kingdon – of course not.”

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He continued: “Had he decided to come, which he did do of course to see the Queen and also transited on to the Invictus Games in Holland, rather than make a noise about how he wants the full package, the British Government and the Metropolitan Police would, of course, provide some sort of liaison to work with his own security, albeit private because that would be necessary.

“So with that, I can’t see why he was insistent that he had this full package and a team from Scotland Yard – in essence, he wasn’t really entitled to it being a non-working member of the British Royal Family.

“But I think the government and the Metropolitan Police would have seen it would have been wrong to see this man, a global icon and celebrity in his own right, step onshore in the United Kingdom without any protection whatsoever.

“So that was never the case that the government and the police wouldn’t have provided a liaison to guarantee his safety and that of his wife and children.”

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