How much would Harry and Meghan’s security detail cost?

‘I was born into this position. I inherited the risk’, Harry told Oprah in bombshell interview

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have claimed their security detail was withdrawn by the royal family despite an acknowledgement that the threat against them had not changed.

In a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple said the decision had left them in Canada without the support that the prince had been afforded all his life in the face of “death threats and racist propaganda” following his marriage to Meghan.

Instead the couple paid for their security detail with money left to Harry by his mother, Princess Diana, while they lived in Canada.

But how much would security for the couple have cost?

The estimates

It’s is hard to put a precise figure on the cost of the couple’s security detail, and a number of wide-ranging estimates have been floated.

Among them was Canadian broadcaster CBC, which suggested the figure could sit anywhere between $10m and $30m in Canadian dollars (£5.7m-£17.1m).

In May last year the Daily Mail reported that Prince Charles had been covering the cost of the detail for the couple for an estimated sum of £4m a year, while a Scotland Yard report leaked to The Mirror suggested it could reach heights of £20m a year if the couple lived a life of jet-setting international appearances.

However, experts have also suggested the rate could have been lower. Writing for The Conversation, doctorate student in security risk management at the University of Portsmouth Sean Spence suggested the figure could be closer to just over £1.8m.

He wrote for the publication: “As a security expert, when I tally up all the initial security costs — from conducting a [Threat Risk Assessment], having basic residential security, to having an armoured SUV and five full time close protection officers — it comes to just over $2.5 million. But many of these are one-time capital costs, specifically for the residence and transportation.”

Meanwhile Chris Falkenberg, a former special agent of the United States Secret Service told Town and Country magazine last year the figure could be lower still.

He said: “Let’s say $570,000 for residential security, $245,000 for a driver, and $150,000 for an advance agent. That doesn’t include the cost of the car or the gas or other things. So it’s $1 million.”

The context

The removal of security details is not entirely without precedent - particularly following moves to modernise the royal family by slimming down its number of working royals - and with it the number eligible for state perks.

In 2011 Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice were stripped of their security detail after a Scotland Yard review, with the 24 hour protection at the time valued at £500,000 a year for the lower-profile royals.

However Prince Andrew, who stepped away from life as a working royal due to his relationship with disgraced paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, was reportedly able to keep his £300,000 a year bodyguard detail amid the fallout following an intervention from the Queen.

The Sussexes used their interview to suggest a clearer timeline for when their security deal was stripped away than was previously known - and to reveal why they were concerned about the possibility of being left both without access to the fortunes of the royal family and without an income of their own.

“Their justification was a change in status” Harry told Ms Winfrey. “I pushed back and said is there a change of threat or risk? Eventually, I got the confirmation that no, the risk hasn’t changed but due to our change of status - we would no longer be ‘official’ members of the royal family.”

He added that the family “literally cut me off financially and I had to afford security for us…in the first quarter of 2020”, and that he “never thought” he would have his detail removed upon deciding to step back from royal duties.

He said: “I was born into this position. I inherited the risk. So that was a shock to me.”

Meghan added: “I even wrote letters to his family saying: ‘Please, it’s very clear the protection of me or Archie is not a priority, I accept that, that is fine - please keep my husband safe. I see the death threats, I see the racist propaganda, please keep him safe, please don’t pull his security and announce to the world when he and we are most vulnerable.’

“And they said it’s just not possible.”

The response

Hollywood mogul Tyler Perry, a close associate of Ms Winfrey, provided a home and security for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when they moved from Canada to the US.

Speaking of their departure from British Columbia, Canada, Meghan said: “We didn’t have a plan. We needed a house and he [Perry] offered his security as well so it gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we were going to do.”

Harry added: “The biggest concern was while we were in Canada, in someone else’s house, I then got told, short notice, that security was going to be removed. By this point, courtesy of the Daily Mail, the world knew our exact location.

“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, we probably need to get out of here’.”

Additional reporting by agencies