A former police officer sheds light on Prince Harry’s only way to regain his taxpayer-funded security.
The former police officer in question is the former head of the UK’s counter-terrorism unit, Neil Basu.
spoke with The telegraph in delivering this verdict and said: “The fact is this. If the head of state had asked the Metropolitan Police to protect the Duke of Sussex, whether he was the Queen at the time or the future King, we would protect that person.”
And “there’s nothing that would have caused us to say, ‘No, I’m sorry, sir, or ma’am, we’re not going to do that,’” he admitted.
However, in terms of what it would take to get that assurance, the former police officer admitted: “I’ve been asked many times, I think the reality is that the Duke of Sussex and the head of state, his father, would probably need to come to some agreement between them. I think reconciliation would be the key to this issue.”
Still, “what I will say is that 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 happen to have met them both and I know they would abide by that.”
“It’s pretty brutal for directors [royals] when the decision, the discretion, is ‘well, that wouldn’t have any impact so we’ll just let you protect yourself.'”
“And that’s where they left him, but I think they did it because they didn’t think he would leave. I think they thought that if he wasn’t protected he wouldn’t leave the country,” he added before saying goodbye.
