PRINCE Harry brought his own security with him from LA – and was met by Scotland Yard protection officers when his plane landed in the UK, it’s reported.
The Duke’s private team flew out with him on a British Airways flight to Heathrow, and once in the UK, he was reportedly met by Met Police.
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The officers – funded by the taxpayer – will accompany him throughout his visit, the Telegraph claims.
The Sussexes were stripped of their round-the-clock protection when they stepped back from royal duties.
However, it’s understood Harry will be shadowed and guarded for as long as he remains in the UK.
It comes as:
- Prince Andrew left his father’s funeral in a brand new £220,000 Bentley
- The royals have ‘agreed a rota’ for visiting the Queen on her birthday this week
- Charles and William will lead a summit on the future on the monarchy
- The heartbreaking photo of the Queen sitting alone at the funeral prompts calls to ease Covid rules
- Charles masterminded a plan to get his sons to talk to each other after the funeral ended, a royal expert claims
- The Queen took tea with son Edward and her ‘rock’ Sophie Wessex after the service
He returned for Prince Philip’s funeral – meeting his family face-to-face for the first time since moving to LA with Meghan Markle and the couple’s son Archie.
It was also the first time he had seen close family members since he and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah aired.
During the chat, he said he had been “literally cut off financially” by the royals – and had to make multi-million pound deals with Netflix and Spotify to keep his family safe.
Speaking about his partnerships with the streaming giants, the 36-year-old said: “We didn’t have a plan.
“That was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us.”
Prince Harry said his own father Prince Charles had stopped taking his calls for a time and that he had been cut off at the start of 2020.
He said: “I’ve got what my mum left me, and without that, we would not have been able to do this.”
Since quitting the Royal Family, Meghan and Harry have signed two massive deals – one with Netflix rumoured to be worth £100m and another with Spotify believed to be worth about £30m.
Harry said: “The biggest concern was that while we were in Canada, in someone else’s house, and then I got told short notice that security was going to be removed.
“So suddenly it dawned on me, hang on a second, the borders could be closed, we’re going to have our security removed, who knows how long lockdown is going to be.
“The world knows where we are. It’s not safe. It’s not secure.”
He added: “I never thought I would have my security removed, because I was born in to this position.”
Harry and Meghan had requested 24/7 security – all at the expense of Brits – when they first eyed a move overseas.
In an extraordinary statement announcing they would quit the Royal Family and move to Canada, the pair said they expected taxpayers to continue funding their royal protection officers as “internationally protected people”.
The six-strong security team previously provided by Scotland Yard cost around £600,000 a year.
But costs would have ballooned to several times that figure if British police were forced to provide the service overseas.
There are no hard and fast rules for which royals are given security details.
Until 2011, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice received protection at a reported cost of £500,000 a year.
Since then they have provided their own, and both princesses and their husbands make their own incomes.
A police task force, the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, handles a list of essential public figures and royals who have round-the-clock protection funded primarily by the state.
Meghan claimed during the Oprah interview that when she was pregnant with Archie in 2018, she was told by palace officials and family members the tot should not be given the title of prince.
That meant he would not receive a royal security detail either.
“There’s no explanation,” she said when Oprah pressed for details.
However, Archie was never in line to be a prince from birth.
A Royal decree dating back more than a century states only Royal offspring in direct line of succession can be princes or become an HRH – which excludes Archie automatically.
Under the rules laid down by King George V in 1917, only Prince William and Kate’s eldest son Prince George were originally entitled to be a prince.
The Queen stepped in ahead of George’s birth in 2013 to issue a Letters Patent to ensure George’s siblings Charlotte and Louis would have fitting titles as children of the future king.
Under the George V rules, Archie will be entitled to be an HRH or a prince – but not until his grandfather Charles takes the throne.
The Celeb Report has contacted Meghan and Harry’s foundation Archewell for comment. The Met Police said: “In line with our long-standing policy, we do not comment on protection matters.”
