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Prince Harry and Megan Markle's alleged desire to rejoin the monarchy has mostly been dismissed by royal commentators and experts. However, the Duke of Sussex appears keen to visit the United Kingdom more frequently with his wife and children. Nevertheless, a significant obstacle stands in the way of these otherwise peaceful family trips - the ongoing dispute over security arrangements.
While Harry has appealed the London High Court's ruling that denied his request for taxpayer-funded security while in Britain, the couple's recent tour of New York and other destinations in the United States has reignited discussions about the challenges they face in visiting the UK. One notable aspect of their trip to New York was that they received full security from local law enforcement. Former royal butler Grant Harrold remarked that when he worked with the royal family, Harry did not have a large entourage but he would surely appreciate having that level of protection in the UK as well. Harrold noted that security in Britain is more stringent because it is funded by British taxpayers, and one of the primary arguments made against providing royal security is that Harry and Meghan can afford to pay for their own protection. In contrast, when they travel to other countries, local police typically coordinate their protection due to their celebrity status.
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Recent reports have indicated that despite her supposed disappointment in Harry and Meghan's decisions to step back as senior working royals, the late Queen Elizabeth instructed her Chief Adviser and Private Secretary Sir Edward Young to ensure the couple had adequate security arrangements in place. This revelation comes from a newly unsealed letter written by Her Majesty to Young in early 2020, shortly after Harry and Meghan announced their intention to split their time between the UK and North America. In the letter, the Queen emphasized the importance of keeping the Duke and Duchess of Sussex safe given Harry's public profile as a senior royal, his military service to the country, and Meghan's independent standing as a former actress. The Queen also noted the documented threats that had been made against their family by extremists in the past.
The Queen sent this memo to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his entire cabinet. While the Prime Minister technically could have declined the Queen's request, royal commands are rarely ignored due to the monarch's position as the symbolic head of state. However, some royal analysts doubt whether such an elaborate security arrangement as the Queen envisioned could be replicated in the future now that Harry and Meghan are non-working royals pursuing private and commercial ventures in California. In addition, the security debate further strains Harry's relationship with his family back in the UK.
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Grant Harrold believes that the security issue will persist as an obstacle over the long term, potentially reducing the frequency of Harry, Meghan, Archie, and Lilibet's appearances in Britain. As Harrold noted during his time as a royal servant, Harry has never had a significant security entourage like his father, Prince Charles, or his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex now live in California without any publicly-funded UK police protection.
Meanwhile, Young's 2020 letter to the Queen also acknowledged that while Her Majesty emphasized the need for continued security for Harry and Meghan, the ultimate decision on protective arrangements lay with the Royal and VIP Executive Committee. This independent body assesses threats to each royal family member and senior politician to determine appropriate security measures. While sympathetic to Harry's case, the Committee has so far refused special publicly-funded protection for the Sussexes' private visits to the UK from overseas.
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This stalemate over the security issue leaves questions about Harry's ability to regularly bring his young children, including the Queen's great-granddaughter Lilibet, who has yet to meet her British family, on trips to visit royal relatives. Some hope this disagreement can still be overcome through private security or negotiated state-funded protection agreements for official engagements. However, the Duke of Sussex's ongoing legal appeal indicates both sides remain far apart in their perspectives for now. Unless the security question is resolved, anxieties over threats may continue deterring Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet from making their home in the UK as well. This leaves the couple in a difficult situation regarding maintaining ties to both sides of the Atlantic.
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