Stay up to date with notifications from TheĀ Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Harry reveals anguish about losing police protection

The Duchess of Sussex broke down in tears as she described receiving death threats online.

Tony Jones
Thursday 15 December 2022 15:04 GMT
A man believed to be a Royal bodyguard speaking to a spectator who had taken a selfie as the Duchess of Sussex (Mike Egerton/PA)
A man believed to be a Royal bodyguard speaking to a spectator who had taken a selfie as the Duchess of Sussex (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Archive)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Duke of Sussex has revealed he ā€œneverā€ thought the British authorities would remove his familyā€™s security after announcing they wanted to step down as working royals.

Harry, speaking during his Netflix series, said with a documented hate campaign against them and suspect packages being sent to palaces, he did not believe they would lose the police protection that had kept them safe.

After announcing in January 2020 they would move to North America for personal and financial freedom they soon found themselves ā€œcompletely surroundedā€ by the press at their temporary home in Canada.

In episode five of the Harry & Meghan documentary, the duke speaking to his camera at the time, saying: ā€œThese next few months is when weā€™re going to be at our most vulnerable when the press no doubt will create some sort of feeding frenzy.ā€

He then describes how their accommodation on Vancouver island in Canada was ā€œcompletely surroundedā€ by the press when he got back from the UK with ā€œboats in the water, cars up the drive, individuals trying to jump over the fence and take photographs over the wallā€.

He added: ā€œIā€™d never experienced that before.

ā€œM asked me: ā€˜Would they remove our security?ā€™ I said: ā€˜Theyā€™ll never do thatā€™.

ā€œMeghanā€™s background, her heritage, the world documented hate campaigns against us, suspicious packages being sent to the palaces, specifically with her name on or my name on.

ā€œShe said: ā€˜Do you think theyā€™ll ever do that.ā€™ I said: ā€˜No theyā€™ll never do thatā€™. And they did it.ā€

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed at the time it had, at the request of the Metropolitan Police, been providing assistance to Met officers since the Sussexes arrived in the country but that support would end when their status changed at the start of the 2020 financial year.

Cutting back to his video diary, Harry can be seen saying: ā€œTheyā€™ve decided our security be removed on the March 31, thereby leaving me less than three weeks to find security for my family and Iā€™m worried.

ā€œIā€™m genuinely concerned for that safety of my family.ā€

The duchess broke down in tears as she described receiving death threats online.

Harry and Meghan have since signed lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify, rumoured to be worth more than Ā£100 million, which has enabled them to pay for their own security at their California home and when travelling.

But the duke has launched legal action against the Home Office regarding security arrangements for himself and his family when they are in the UK.

In July, a judge gave the go-ahead for the dukeā€™s challenge against a decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, which falls under the remit of the Home Office, after being told he would no longer be given the ā€œsame degreeā€ of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.

Reflecting on their time in Vancouver Island, Harry said in the final episode of Harry & Meghan: ā€œThis was like a week before Covid, and weā€™d been stuck at this house where everyone in the world knew where we were, unprotected, no security.ā€

In the fifth episode of the Netflix series, Meghan said negative media coverage had made people say they wanted to kill her.

She said: ā€œI mean, just a couple of days ago. I was going through the manual for our security team at home.

ā€œAnd one of the pages that I happened to flip to, it was about online monitoring, and they were like, ā€œif you see a tweet like this, please report it to head of security immediatelyā€ and (the tweet) just said, ā€˜Megan just needs to die, someone needs to kill her, maybe it should be meā€™.ā€

ā€œI was just like, ā€˜OK, thatā€™s like whatā€™s actually out in the world?ā€™

ā€œBecause of people creating hate ā€“ and Iā€™m a mom, itā€™s my real life you know ā€“ and thatā€™s the piece when you see it and you go, ā€˜youā€™re making people want to kill meā€™.

ā€œItā€™s not just a tabloid. Itā€™s not just some story. You are making me scared, right? And like that night, to be up and down in the middle of the night, looking down the hallway, like ā€˜are we safe, are our doors locked? Is security on?ā€™ ā€“ thatā€™s real.

ā€œAre my babies safe?ā€

ā€œAnd youā€™ve created it for what? Because youā€™re bored or because it sells your papers, or because it makes you feel better about your own life. Itā€™s real, what youā€™re doing.

ā€œAnd thatā€™s because I donā€™t think people fully understand.ā€

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in