An ex-cop sheds light on the only way Prince Harry has to get back his taxpayer funded security.
The ex-cop in question is the former head of the UK’s Counter Terrorism unit, Neil Basu.
He spoke to The Telegraph when delivering this verdict and said, “The fact is this. If the Metropolitan Police had been asked to protect the Duke of Sussex by either the head of state—whether it was the Queen at the time or the future King—we would protect that person.”
And “there is nothing whatsoever that would have led us to say, ‘No, I’m sorry, sir, or ma’am, we’re not doing that’,” he admitted.
In terms of what it would take to get that security though, the ex-cop admitted, “I’ve been asked many times, I think the reality is the Duke of Sussex and the head of state, his father, would probably need to come to some arrangement between them. I think that reconciliation would be the key to this problem.”
Still, “what I will say, is the head of state, both the queen, when she was alive, and the king today constitutionally would not want to interfere in the decision-making of either the government or the police. And I’ve happened to have known them both and I know that they would abide by that.”
“It’s quite brutal for principals [royals] when the decision, the discretion, is ‘well, that wouldn’t have any impact at all so we’ll just let you protect yourself’.”
“And that’s where they’ve left him but I think they did it because they didn’t think he would leave. I think they thought if he wasn’t protected he wouldn’t leave the country,” he added before signing off.
