Prince Harry: Security Fight Returns As Public Balks at Bill

Royal security for Prince Harry seems never-ending and it’s back in the news once again. In fact, it’s not a massive shocker that many folks who watch the family from afar wonder if it will ever be resolved. Clearly, walking away from The Firm because of fears about security wasn’t thought about very deeply in the heat of the moment. Read on to find out more.

Ran But Wants Back In The Fold

Most royal family fans saw Harry and Meghan on Netflix in their dramatic car ride. Both of them seemed over-the-top stressed because the media followed them. Whether that really happened or not is debatable.

Anyway, it seems that they ran away to the USA to get away from that sort of thing. However, cutting home ties isn’t easy. So now, there’s a big hullabaloo about how he wants back, at least part of the time. A part of the problem is that he ran, but now wants those he left behind to foot the bill.

Who Shoul Pay For More Security?

Recently, on the Palace Confidential podcast, Rebecca English and Richard Eden took another look at the pros and cons of Prince Harry and the security of his family. Notably, it’s not so much about what he did or didn’t say in his book Spare, or about the infamous Oprah Interview.

Rather, it’s about who should pay for security and why they should bother with it. Actually if you thought they got no security at all, that would be wrong. However, it’s not a round the clock high level operation like the team who protects Prince William and his wife, Princess Catherine.

Options Already In Place

What is required for Harry and Meghan is that when they travel, they notify officials in the UK. Forewarned is forearmed, so to speak, so experts assess the threat levels before they undertake their journey. In the podcast, it became obvious that the heart of all the debate lies in whether Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should claim an “automatic right” to it.

From his perspective, Richard Eden felt that all the fuss and fight seems a bit strange because really, what the Sussex couple fights for was always there. In practice, all they had to do was use it! After all, it’s a standing arrangement that is “just there ready and waiting for them.”

The Nature Of Their travel

The “very contentious” point seems to lie in the fact that Meghan and Harry don’t travel as royals on official duty. In fact, much of their work seems to lie in philanthropy and business. However, not everyone hates the couple traveling. 

Despite what you might hear from the media, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle actually do have some friends. And one of them, Alex Raina, commented that not allowing full and automatic security for the Sussex couple seemed particularly “spiteful.”

As you can imagine, Richard Eden clapped back at that. After all, he noted, if anything has been spiteful, it was the couple who chose to go into the shocking Oprah interview while Harry’s grandfather Philip was in a hospital with poor health.

Who Broke Protocol First?

Debate about Meghan and her man always seems fraught, and everyone always seems so invested in it. Probably, it’s because they broke the protocols of royal tradition regarding problems. Back in the day you shut up, buckled up, and kept your problems to yourself.

Certainly, you did not stun the entire world by accusing the monarchy of things that couldn’t always be proven. Really, the only people who take that to the bank nowadays are the royal biographers who spent the next seven years or so picking their lives apart.

The Average Joe Hates Paying?

At the end of the day, and under all the social media infighting about being for or against the Sussex couple, it’s the people who pay for the security that have the real beef. Demanding automatic security means that automatically, the average Joe taxpayer picks up the bill.

And why should they? After all, how many other nonworking royals get round the clock automatic security teams? Plus, for the average person working in the UK, it might not sit right knowing that Harry and Meghan destroyed the trust of the firm, and their supporters.

In fact, the panel discussed how that “trust has been conclusively destroyed.” Of course, that diminished the possibility of a return to the royal fold and the high-profile security perks that go with it.

Overseas Arguments

Of course, the royal family is more than about the UK. There’s the commonwealth to think about as well. Over in Australia, arguments against funding security for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spilled over into the general public.

So far, a petition downunder quickly gathered more than 32K signatures. Those folks object to their own taxpayers forking out to pay for the security of a couple nobody really asked for.

Admittedly, the Sussex team did claim that no public funds would be spent. However, that’s not actually true. As the panel noted, a VIP visit almost always requires local police “overseeing,” which naturally incurs a cost.

Viewers React

Folks who watched the chat about security seem very hot on the topic. In the comments section on YouTube, one person wrote, “The Australian petition is up to 36000. We do not want to pay a cent as we don’t want them.”

Here are a few more responses from the discussion that followed:

• If the government allows Harry to get security then it’s the end of the monarchy.
• Harry and MM should never be allowed to become senior Royals. It’s unthinkable.
• We dont want them in Australia. Why can’t they act normal instead of being full of themselves.
• 38,158 signatures and rising on the petition as of 9.15am on 27th March in Sydney. We don’t want them here because they’re just seling themselves, and they disrespected our late beloved Queen Elizabeth II.

What are your thoughts on the latest security row involving Prince Harry? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and remember to come back here often for all your Royal Family news and updates.