Victoria Ward
London: The duke and duchess of Sussex’s biggest security concern on returning to the United Kingdom is the school run, London’s Telegraph understands.
The couple’s children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, will start at their new British prep school next week.
However, the family is still waiting for answers from the Home Office about whether they will receive any form of taxpayer-funded police protection in the longer term.
Prince Harry was told in July that the risk assessment for which he had long fought had finally been conducted. Since then, he has sent multiple letters to the royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec) and the Home Secretary, pleading for answers about its findings.
He continues to believe that he is being denied protection as a form of “punishment” for quitting royal duties and that the delay in responding to his change in circumstances is a form of “game play”.
The daily school run presents specific challenges because of the repetitive nature of shuttling to and from the same place every day at the same time.
“It is absolutely the biggest area of concern,” one friend said. “It creates the most dangers.”
Meghan once suggested that she would never be able to do the school run in the UK without it turning into a media frenzy.
While that is unlikely to be the case, the couple remain concerned about unregulated paparazzi, international media outlets and images circulated on social media as well as the threat from “lone wolf” actors intent on harm.
Prince William and Princess Catherine’s three children are thought to benefit from discreet protection from armed officers while they are at school. However, they have been left alone to enjoy school life in privacy, like any other pupil.
Despite relocating to the UK with their nanny, Harry and Meghan intend to continue to do the school run themselves as often as possible, just as they did in Montecito.
The couple do not plan to publicly disclose the name of their chosen school, although they are aware that as soon as the children return – and letters will be sent to parents – it will become widely known.
Various policies and procedures have been put in place, with teachers given special training.
Scott Hamer, who worked in the Metropolitan Police’s royalty and specialist protection unit for 14 years until 2022, said the school run would always prove a headache.
“The whole point of protection is to keep the diary as tight as possible, to ensure people who might want to do bad things do not have the opportunity to do so,” he said.
“With the school run, you can vary the route as much as you like, but the start and end point will almost always be the same. It’s really, really difficult.”
‘Right to a fair assessment’
Hamer, who worked for five years as a personal protection officer to King Charles, the then-prince of Wales, said everybody who might be at risk should have the right to a fair assessment.
“Personally, I don’t think Prince Harry has had one,” he added.
“If there is a credible threat to him and his family, it should be objectively assessed. If there is a genuine risk, the state should provide protection. If not, then fine, but let him know.”
Hamer added: “It doesn’t matter whether he’s a working or non-working royal. The late Queen Mother got protection after she retired, as did Princess Margaret, as does every ex-prime minister.
“The risk does not just vanish.”
As private citizens who will play no role in public life, Archie and Lilibet will be spared the press call that Prince George, 13, will face on Tuesday (London time) when he starts at Eton.
But that does not negate the fact that they remain the King’s grandchildren, Harry has long argued, nor the multitude of threats posed by others.
The threat assessment conducted by the risk management board (RMB) is considered a crucial part of Ravec’s approach. While it is not bound by its recommendations, they tend to provide the basis for its decisions.
Terror plots
Among the documents it considered was a 40-page risk assessment compiled by Harry’s private security company at the request of the Home Office, which found that the duke faced an “elevated risk” in the UK, where five of the six known home-grown terror plots against him originated.
The report, seen by the Telegraph, revealed that in May 2023, the Sussexes’ security team in Montecito confronted a man armed with a hammer and duct tape who intended to break into the family home.
The Sussexes do not know whether the risk analysis that finally took place in July included Meghan and the children.
Just days after being told the assessment had been completed, Harry wrote to the chairman of Ravec with a series of questions about the board’s methods and its independence.
Having received no reply a week later, he sent another letter, raising concerns about the royal household’s involvement in the process.
Such is his lack of trust in the system that he fears it may have been adapted to reach a predetermined outcome.
He has said that until his questions are answered, he should not be expected to submit further formal requests for police protection, which involve sharing sensitive information about his family’s movements, as he is concerned about how it is shared.
Harry wrote to the Home Secretary in mid-August to give formal notice that his family was returning to the UK the following week for a minimum period of six months.
He said Ravec had known for several months that he intended to spend considerably more time in the country.
However, he pointed out that he was still waiting to be told of the RMB’s conclusions and for an explanation of why his RMB was delayed from March until July.
At the same time, he wrote to the chair of Ravec, with the same information. He noted that if the RMB had taken place in March as promised, the ongoing uncertainty about his family’s protection could have been avoided.
Ravec has long pointed to his “unique” set of circumstances – the fact that he lived abroad and was a non-working royal – as the reason for creating a “bespoke” process for him which involves assessing each return visit on its merits.
However, Harry believes that the family’s return to the UK marks a “significant change in circumstances” that should prompt a new evaluation.
For now, sources say that the family has been given nothing more than a phone number for a liaison officer.
The Telegraph, London
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
From our partners
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.