To be surprised that I see Harry’s point about the security

[Figmentofmyimagination]

Not usually a royal watcher but I watched this as it was on the bbc and I was surprised to feel sympathetic towards his main argument. It’s somewhat crazy that even Liz Truss gets life long security at the expense of the taxpayer, and he was born into this position rather than choosing it, and private security is no substitute if they don’t have arms or access to intelligence. He’s also right that the wider fallout if eg one of his children were to be kidnapped would be something to be seen.

Surely there must be a deal to be struck where he gets high level security provided by the state but contributes to the cost through the tax system. I’m not surprised he’s upset about it and although he was never going to win his case because of the nature of the particular decision making regime, he has put the issue in the public eye in a more effective way than he usually achieves!

He quit his job. You no longer get the company benefits after you leave.
Anne, Edward & Sophie only receive protection when they are on official engagements.
Andrew gets nothing (obviously!)
The only one of the Queen’s grandchildren who receives any protection is William and his family. He is the Prince of Wales and Heir to the throne.
Peter & Zara don’t get it
Beatrice and Eugenie don’t get it
Louise and James don’t get it
🤷‍♀️

if he wants protection he can pay for it himself.

I’m not sure if Harry’s realised this, but his wife has exactly zero intention of ever setting foot back in the UK for any meaningful length of time. I imagine she’ll avoid it altogether. The kids won’t go without her either. So this is largely a moot point.
I hear the argument that he was born into this…but so was Beatrice and Eugene, who I’m sure get a lot of threats due to their royal status and fact their father is….well, let’s not go there. Harry is not a working royal. He works paid jobs now, as does Meghan. They’re just celebrities now, same as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift - who pay for their own security.
Why does he need tax payer funded security in the UK, but not in the US? A country where almost any adult can walk around with a gun. Honestly, I’m not even sure he knows why he’s fighting these court cases anymore. And why he thinks he can keep talking trash about his family but reconcile with them. Deluded over-privileged and out of touch.

He gets a higher level of security than most working royals. He gets the same level of security that Edward had when he was 5th in line to the throne!

I feel sympathy for him and completely understand why he feels vulnerable. His mother was hounded to death by paparazzi. He and his wife have been on the receiving end of an insane level of hate. I would absolutely want security if I was him.
I do think he says too much though. He keeps claiming to want reconciliation with his family yet repeatedly reveals very private information about them. I think he does it from a place of deep hurt.

He's also had terrorist organisations threaten his life, he has to take his security seriously and he didn't ask to be born into the Royal family - maybe he hasn't handled leaving it well but if Andrew was still getting paid for protection until the end of 2024 then why wasn't Harry?

He can’t pay for armed police

I think given the level of vitriol against Harry and Meghan, it is very sensible of him to keep his children away from this country, where he could not be confident that they would be safe.

I watched the whole interview and I understand the point he’s trying to make. The gist is that his security was downgraded when he stepped out of the role but others who step out of roles, like former PMs etc are given lifetime security. His argument is that he never chose to be in the RF but there are very serious, credible threats against his life and that didn’t change when his role did.

So yes OP, I can sort of see his point but if he’s in the UK to visit family or attend a royal event, he gets full security. It seems he wants it whenever and wherever he is in the UK, presumably if he’s here to advance one of their commercial interests too? I also don’t think Meghan should be given taxpayer funded security although inevitably, every time she was with Harry, that’s what would happen.

For the millionth time HE DOES GET SECURITY. FREE AND GRATIS.
sorry to shout but dear lord what is wrong with.people. It has been explained over and over that he only has to let RAVEC know he is coming and they do an assessment to see what level of security he needs with the current level of risk.and taking into account the nature of the visit.
That level of security is then provided courtesy of the great British taxpayer.
Same for his wife and kids and this is exactly how it works for all other Royals except Charles, Camilla and the Wales family who.are all either current monarch or next in line to the throne.

Harry is talking as though he is wandering around totally unprotected dodging snipers bullets.
He is playing fast and loose with the truth as usual and throwing mud at his family , the country and the judiciary. It is a disgrace that he has basically accused several judges of being bent and colluding with the Royal family against him.
And to top it off he wants the PM to interfere in the legal process because he has lost a case that he could never hope to win because he had no legal argument at all.
The man is unhinged and seems unable to even understand the basics of how security is allocated.

Exactly! What the hell does the worst PM
in history get lifetime security and her PM salary for life? And then when Trump visits we pay for his security because it’s a state visit! No wonder the country is screwed!

Truss might be an idiot but I'd rather she wasn't kidnapped and forced to hand over state secrets / names. We'd be screwed, she has no backbone or grit. She'd be first out of Celebrity SAS. I'd rather she had decent security around her.

IIRC PM's have a top level security meeting on day 1 in the job.

He didn’t make his bed though, his parents did. The RF did. He didn’t ask to be born.

I think the comparison with Liz Truss is apples and oranges. There are separate processes for ex PMs and ex members of the royal family. It does seem counterintuitive that Liz Truss gets security but it’s simply following the rules straightforwardly. We can say that the rules are silly and try to improve them via legal processes but we shouldn’t change them in the middle of the game.

I also don’t agree that he should be able to privately pay for state security. On what basis? Where’s the line? Will there be a bunch of mafia millionaires lining up to pay for our state security? Or are we really going to rewrite the rule so that only Harry gets security?

I might feel a little sympathy for Harry but not enough to want to contribute to his security through my taxes. After all, he’s a very rich man.

You can’t pay for armed security in the UK. That’s the issue.

Ki agree. Actually I think this is more about the status than the actual security. He talked constantly about being 'downgraded' in the interview. I think he was offended by that, as in his mind, the higher your protection, the higher your status.

Some of the pp are fanciful I agree. And as others have said he just has to give notice. He's not going it alone when here.

Ive never given the royal family much thought until I saw how obsessive some of these threads on MN are. If there are complete H&M fanatics in such volume online, then you can see exactly why he would need armed protection and intelligence. Just takes one of these people to be a bit doolally and you get yourself an assassination. Wonder if it ever got to that point (for him, his wife or kids), if people would be saying ‘he made his bed’.

Harry blabbing to the media is one thing. Harry was bringing his case against his father, the kings govetnment. I dont know for sure, but given the current ptoblems, where harry appears unable to keep his gob shut, and even in the case he did, it could if the outcome had been successful for Harry would have incurred an an increased cost on taxpayers, it would then potentially open up challenges from other rich induviduals to have their protection paid. Also, we arent clear that Harry is wanting his IPP reinstated theredfore it would cost sigmificant amountd for RPO to fly to and from US to provide 24hr protection to Harry and his family, plus increased costs when they arr not all together. I heard some time ago that this would easily be in the millions, due to the other costs such as RPos travel and accommodation.

The King therefore likely needed to have nc with harry until the case was concluded as it woulf likely, in the event of a successful outcomr, be suggested that the king may have intervened on Harrys behalf.

This

@MrsLeonFarrell has nailed it throughout this thread as to the position. Which I wholeheartedly agree with.

I don’t know what’a happened to Harry over the last few years, but, he has became a worse spin machine than the media themselves to play the ‘poor me’ card and it is extremely unbecoming and has resulted in him estranging his children from the rest of their family through no fault of their own and that is incredibly sad indeed. He used to be such a loveable rogue.

Not true

When, as a result of public pressure , Andrew was stripped of his security Charles stepped in a paid millions year after year to protect Andrew
As soon as Harry said he and Meghan wanted to step away for a year Harry was threatened with having his security stripped away. Charles then did strip his security . He probably thought Harry would be forced back as a result
Harrys own father and head of the COE would rather protect Andrew than Harry

William and Charles have representatives on RAVEC ( the group who decide which royals get security and how much )

Btw Harry did offer to pay but was refused

It seems Charles was able to pay for Andrew though . That’s odd

I don’t know why Charles funds Andrew.

But in this case, the paying for security is different things. Harry was offering to pay towards him having armed police security. Charles is not paying for that for Andrew.

Charles paid millions each year for Andrew
Andrew has tax payer funded armed security as he can’t leave royal grounds in case the FBI want a word

Thats the Windsors. How admirable . Bend your knee..

I agree with you here