Royal Security


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The Queen Mother had 24/7 security from her engagement to her death, as did Princess Alice of Gloucester. The cut-backs only occurred in about 2012, after the Jubilee when the reassessment occurred which determined that the monarch, spouse of the monarch, children of the monarch, spouse of the heir apparent, children of the heir apparent, spouses of the heir apparent and their children have 24/7. Spouses of younger children and the cousins and their spouses now only have security when on official duties. That was when it was decided to remove security from the Queen's cousins and the York princesses.

It should also be noted that this is a case by case basis. In time, when interest in Meghan is reduced - as George, Charlotte and Louis grow to adulthood she will lose 24/7 security - just as Sophie has lost it and I suspect that their children may never receive it. New procedures are being put in place as the family is modernised and made acceptable to the public who don't want to support a large family and that includes the security for 'minor royals'. The optics are important.
 
So if the Queen Mother was alive today she wouldn’t have police protection?

The Queen Mother was the widow of a King so I would have assumed she would still have 24 hour police protection if she was alive today.
 
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Iluvbertie said:
The Queen Mother had 24/7 security from her engagement to her death, as did Princess Alice of Gloucester. The cut-backs only occurred in about 2012, after the Jubilee when the reassessment occurred which determined that the monarch, spouse of the monarch, children of the monarch, spouse of the heir apparent, children of the heir apparent, spouses of the heir apparent and their children have 24/7. Spouses of younger children and the cousins and their spouses now only have security when on official duties. That was when it was decided to remove security from the Queen's cousins and the York princesses.

It should also be noted that this is a case by case basis. In time, when interest in Meghan is reduced - as George, Charlotte and Louis grow to adulthood she will lose 24/7 security - just as Sophie has lost it and I suspect that their children may never receive it. New procedures are being put in place as the family is modernised and made acceptable to the public who don't want to support a large family and that includes the security for 'minor royals'. The optics are important.
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Many people today fail to realise that before the Good Friday agreement in 1998 the royals and British politicians was under a massive amount of threat from the IRA. A bigger threat than they are facing today.
Lord Mountbatten and his grandson were killed by a bomb in Northern Ireland and Prime minister Margaret Thatcher was almost killed by a bomb in Brighton. This would have influenced the need for protection for all members of the Royal family at the time.
 
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royal_enthusiast said:
So if the Queen Mother was alive today she wouldn’t have police protection?
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Yes she would. As the spouse of a monarch it would hers forever just as Philip will have security if he were to outlive the Queen.

Same with Princess Margaret - she would still have it if she were alive today as the child of a monarch.
 
I think in mid 2000s the process changed to become more threat based rather than just automatically giving everyone with HRH status full time 24/7 police protection.

The Queen Mother would certainly still get some level of protection if she were alive today, whether that would be a police officer standing next to her at all times or not who knows. Certainly she would have had police protection officers when on public duties and her homes - Clarence House and Royal Lodge would have been protected at all times.

Diana actually continued to have police protection from the Met Police after her divorce. The only reason this stopped was because Diana herself requested it stop. A little while back during one of the inquests into Diana's death the then head of Met Police (I think, possibly it was the then Head of Royal Protection) said he begged Diana to keep police protection. I assume that Diana would still have been given police protection for as long as if was felt necessary and it would have only been taken away if the threat to her diminished dramatically.
 
Would The Duchess of Windsor have received police protection when she was alive?
 
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To my knowledge, even as the Duchess of Windsor, she was never afforded police protection at all. There would be no reason to think that should she be alive today, she'd have any kind of protection at all.
 
I know the Duchess of Windsor wouldn’t have police protection if she was alive today because of the downsizing of those who receive 24 hour police protection. However I just wondered because Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester received police protection during her life, why didn’t The Duchess of Windsor? Both women were married to a son of a Monarch and this was before the reduction in those who received police protection.
 
There were probably different reasons for different phases of her life and circumstances. The Duchess of Gloucester was a working royal and likely had protection when she carried out engagements. She lived on royal properties which were secured and more than likely her country home was retrofitted to be secured.

I am guessing that her and all other royals protection would also get beefed up if there was a threat like plots by the IRA and other terrorist groups.

I would like to think that if the British government determined that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were vulnerable and needed protection that it would have been provided.
 
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Princess Alice of Gloucester was a HRH whereas the Duchess of Windsor never was given the HRH. That is what, I believe, makes the difference. Although the Duke of Windsor, as the son of a monarch was a HRH, I don't believe that either the Duke or the Duchess of Windsor were afforded royal protection frankly because they never resided in the UK again after the abdication. They lived mainly, I believe in France or the Bahamas.
 
Thank you for all your responses in clearing up my query. The only think I’m confused about is if the title HRH is what entitles someone to police protection, why was Diana offered police protection even if she did not accept it after her divorce when she lost her HRH title?
 
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the HRH standing shows a relationship of a person to the monarch. That's all it does. Its not actually a title but a form of address.

In Diana's case, even with the divorce, she was still the mother of a future monarch and was treated as such.
 
Do you think she should have had the HRH because she would have had a relationship with a monarch as it would be her son?
 
There was talk that William as a little boy has said he would give her HRH back again when he was King but who knows, that really is getting into pure speculation. I don't necessarily think HRH is the only reason members of the RF get protection but in general, most HRH's do official duties for the monarch so are therefore public figures. That said if the threat was there the police would probably provide some level of protection for other members of the RF, even those without HRH. I think in days gone by HRHs nearly all got protection but over time, in these post IRA days, that's not the case now and it is very much risk and threat assessed.
 
tommy100 said:
There was talk that William as a little boy has said he would give her HRH back again when he was King but who knows, that really is getting into pure speculation. I don't necessarily think HRH is the only reason members of the RF get protection but in general, most HRH's do official duties for the monarch so are therefore public figures. That said if the threat was there the police would probably provide some level of protection for other members of the RF, even those without HRH. I think in days gone by HRHs nearly all got protection but over time, in these post IRA days, that's not the case now and it is very much risk and threat assessed.
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I agree. Half of the Queen's grandchildren are HRHs and half are not. I doubt if protecting Beatrice and Eugenie is given more consideration than protecting Louise and James.
 
tommy100 said:
There was talk that William as a little boy has said he would give her HRH back again when he was King but who knows, that really is getting into pure speculation. I don't necessarily think HRH is the only reason members of the RF get protection but in general, most HRH's do official duties for the monarch so are therefore public figures. That said if the threat was there the police would probably provide some level of protection for other members of the RF, even those without HRH. I think in days gone by HRHs nearly all got protection but over time, in these post IRA days, that's not the case now and it is very much risk and threat assessed.
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I agree. HRH is not the reasoning. It is the circumstances around them. The more higher profile royals are expected to have 24/7 protection. That is just sadly the climate we are in right now.
 
Osipi said:
the HRH standing shows a relationship of a person to the monarch. That's all it does. Its not actually a title but a form of address.

In Diana's case, even with the divorce, she was still the mother of a future monarch and was treated as such.
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It is a form of address which, nonetheless, is tied to a dignity , namely that of Prince or Princess. Being an HRH is equivalent in Britain to being a prince or princess of the United Kingdom.
 
royal_enthusiast said:
I know the Duchess of Windsor wouldn’t have police protection if she was alive today because of the downsizing of those who receive 24 hour police protection. However I just wondered because Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester received police protection during her life, why didn’t The Duchess of Windsor? Both women were married to a son of a Monarch and this was before the reduction in those who received police protection.
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Because Alice was a working Royal and lived in the UK. The Duchess of Windsor wasn't, and lived abroad...
 
Denville said:
Because Alice was a working Royal and lived in the UK. The Duchess of Windsor wasn't, and lived abroad...
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Like anyone with a risk profile, regardless the public function, monseigneur et madame les Ducs de Windsor will have enjoyed discreet protection from the Sûreté and the Paris' police.
 
Several posts discussing Samantha Markle and any potential security issues have been deleted.

The Markles are to be discussed in the Duchess of Sussex: Family and Background thread only. As it is currently closed, the Markles are off-topic to all other threads in this forum and any posts discussing them will be deleted as such.
 
Are former spouses of royals entitled to Scotland Yard Protection?
 
That’s a good point, not even Sophie gets 24/7 RPO. I’m just wondering that if let’s say Sarah for some reason is deemed as needing protection would it be provided to her or not?
 
royal_enthusiast said:
That’s a good point, not even Sophie gets 24/7 RPO. I’m just wondering that if let’s say Sarah for some reason is deemed as needing protection would it be provided to her or not?
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I don't think Sarah would be on the radar at this point. For Diana, they wanted to continue provide security for her after the divorce, but she declined. However, it was made clear that she had to have them with her when the boys are with her. Although her situation was different from Sarah as she was the mother of the future king.
 
Scotland Yard would protect anyone if there was a risk, just as Salman Rushdie received police protection for years after a fatwā was placed upon him.
Sarah Ferguson would get police protection if a specific, credible threat was made against her as would any ex spouse of a royal.
 
If an ex-spouse was deemed 'at risk' then the police would provide security as deemed appropriate. They did for Salman Rushdie for instance and he was never a member of the BRF.

They did offer 24/7 security for Diana after the divorce and she accepted it for a period and then did away with it, except when with the boys.

They assess the needs for 24/7 security on a case by case basis. As Harry moves further from the throne and the hysteria around Meghan settles down she will probably lose the 24/7 security and I doubt that their children will have it for very long, if at all - but again that will depend on the assessed risk.

Remember that Beatrice and Eugenie had that level of security growing up but as soon as they left university it was dropped so I suspect Harry's children - also the children of the second son - will either not have it at all or only on certain occasions, unless there is a level of threat we aren't told about.
 
Iluvbertie said:
Remember that Beatrice and Eugenie had that level of security growing up but as soon as they left university it was dropped so I suspect Harry's children - also the children of the second son - will either not have it at all or only on certain occasions, unless there is a level of threat we aren't told about.
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The York princesses didn't receive it based on the risk assessment though. That was back when children of the sons of the monarch would receive 24/7 regardless. They changed the rule to risk based in the 2000s, which was when the York princesses lost theirs (although I believe it wasn't taken away immediately, they were given some time and that lasted until end of uni).
 
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