Royal Security

[royal_enthusiast]

So let’s say The Duchess of Cambridge divorces The Duke of Cambridge would she after the divorce receive police protection in your opinion?

 

[tommy100]

In the immediate after the divorce, yes. She would be in the media alot so be getting a lot of attention. 10 years down the line who knows! Certainly she would live in a well protected house and if she called the police they would probably come quicker and with more back up than if you or I called them.
But as her children, George at least, would receive police protection she would be getting some level of protection while he was around.

 

[Pranter]

IIRC Diana was offered protection after her divorce from Charles but refused the offer.


LaRae

 

[Osipi]

We know that its the Metropolitan Police/Scotland Yard that provides the RPOs that protect the royal family but what is lesser known is that there is also a department for VIP security. Its possible should Sarah need protection (lets say for the time of Eugenie's wedding and celebrations), it would most likely be provided through that department.

This department also provides security for visiting dignitaries and high profile, at risk people. I read about this in Ken Wharfe's book because that is the department he went to after leaving as Diana's RPO. ?

 

[Muhler]

So let’s say The Duchess of Cambridge divorces The Duke of Cambridge would she after the divorce receive police protection in your opinion?

No doubt IMO.
She is, also after a divorce, one of the most high-profile women in the world and she is after all mother to a future king.
She would be a potential target for extremists, kidnappers, stalkers and other nutcases of all kinds.
Extremists because no matter what, she would still have millions of devoted followers and be the center of constant media interest. Any extremist hurting her would have succeeded in getting whatever message they have across.
Kidnappers because as such a high-profile woman and a mother to a future heir, there is no way any demands for a ransom will be ignored.
Nutcases have all kinds of motives, becoming famous by harming one of the most well-know women in the world would be one.

IIRC Diana was offered protection after her divorce from Charles but refused the offer.


LaRae

Yes, instead she had privately hired bodyguards. And the police in the various countries she visited (including UK) offered police protection on a as-need basis.
Apart from that the world was different when Diana died. Not necessarily less dangerous for a woman like her, but the authorities were perhaps more naive back then.
I simply cannot imagine Diana not having 24/7 protection were she around today.
No security agency in any country would wish to be caught with their pants down not having offered her protection, only for her to be attacked.
I will go so far as to claim that most countries wouldn't even ask her.
- It would be a take it or stay away option.

 

[royal_enthusiast]

Would the same apply to Meghan if she divorced Harry?

 

[Blog Real]

Diana always had security. Even when she had no protection from Scotland Yard she hired private security.
Anyone know if Eugenie and Beatrice still have security? And Zara Philips and her brother? I believe that Sarah Ferguson will still have some sort of security.
But this is something that is never known well because the real house never divulges these things.
I believe that Catherine and Meghan will always have security for the rest of their lives, the first for obvious reasons and the second even in case of divorce will always be linked to the royal family and so is always at risk of some kind of threat.

 

[Muhler]

Would the same apply to Meghan if she divorced Harry?

Yes, but IMO for a considerably shorter period. Then some sort of privately engaged security will have to take over.
She is after all further down the royal pecking order than Kate. And Meghan's children are almost certainly destined to never getting near the throne.
I imagine that after a year or two Meghan will be of limited interest to kidnappers and extremists. Even the number of nutcases wishing to harm her would IMO be reduced.
The most dangerous period for Meghan in this hypothetical divorce scenario will be during the period leading up to and the first year after a divorce. And mainly from nutcases.
One of the things I could easily imagine would trigger at nutcase-attack would be if someone blame Meghan for the "fairy tale-image" of her and Harry shattering. Whether that would be justified or not is besides the point.
After the first year I believe the risk of anger-nutcase-attack would be greatly diminished. I.e. most nutcases would have cooled down or found someone else to focus their obsession on.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Currently the Metropolitan Police's RPO unit provides 24/7 security for The Queen, Philip, Charles, Camilla, William, Kate, George, Charlotte, Louis, Harry, Meghan, Andrew, Edward and Anne.

They provide security for the following when they are underataking official duties: Sophie, Richard, Birgitte, Edward, Katherine and Alexandra.

They do not provide security for anyone else.

Andrew pays for security for Beatrice and Eugenie. When they lost their security, on graduating from university, he offered the existing teams around each girl more money to stay with the girls and leave the Met which some of them did. To complete the teams for his daughters he has always insisted on security officers with Met training.

Diana was offered, and initially accepted, full 24/7 protection after the divorce. Her paranoia reached such a point that early in 1997 she decided to do away with it, unless she had the boys with her, and relied on her own or others. Had she still had decent protection she would never have been in that car on that night.

Sarah was not offered any security after her divorce and Andrew didn't provide any. Of course when she was with the girls they had security and so there was protection for her as well.

None of Edward nor Anne's children have ever had security.

As I said, up thread, security is now determined not on the title but the risk assessment on an individual case by case basis.

 

[loonytick]

It just occurred to me—by living (part of the time, when she’s in Britain, anyway) with Andrew still, Sarah does benefit from his protection detail and only needs paid security when out and about. I wonder if that is part of why they’ve chosen their unconventional living situation. I also wonder if the security already in place at Kensington and St. James are a reason why the Queen chose to allot Beatrice and Eugenie living quarters in those palace complexes, to simplify what they (or, rather, Andrew) need to arrange for in terms of private security.

 

[royal_enthusiast]

Why wasn’t Sarah offered protection if Diana was offered it after the divorce?

 

[Iluvbertie]

Diana was the mother of the future King, Sarah wasn't.

That was why Diana was offered accommodation at KP and Sarah wasn't offered any for of accommodation and Diana received a 17 million pound settlement to Sarah's 3 million of which 2 was to go into trust funds for the girls effectively meaning Sarah was given a 1 million pound settlement.

 

[royal_enthusiast]

I know this isn’t the case now but I was wondering why it used to be that the children of a son of a monarch used to receive 24/7 police protection but they never offered this to children of a daughter of a monarch?

 

[jacqui24]

I know this isn’t the case now but I was wondering why it used to be that the children of a son of a monarch used to receive 24/7 police protection but they never offered this to children of a daughter of a monarch?

I'm assuming it has the same to do with why children of a son of monarch has HRH, but children of a daughter of monarch do not. They were seen as of the paternal family.

 

[royal_enthusiast]

If in the hypothetical scenario Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother had re-married would she have lost her police protection?

 

[O-H Anglophile]

If in the hypothetical scenario Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother had re-married would she have lost her police protection?

Highly doubtful-she would still have been the mother of the Queen.

 

[royal_enthusiast]

Do you think her new Husband would have received police protection as well as he would be the stepfather of the Queen?

 

[O-H Anglophile]

Do you think her new Husband would have received police protection as well as he would be the stepfather of the Queen?

I don't think so, unless the threat assessment showed it was necessary. I doubt it would be ongoing.

 

[royal_enthusiast]

Hi, I know that after her divorce Diana was offered but refused RPO’s. If she had accepted them would they have continued even if she re-married and let’s say moved abroad?

 

[O-H Anglophile]

Hi, I know that after her divorce Diana was offered but refused RPO’s. If she had accepted them would they have continued even if she re-married and let’s say moved abroad?

I think if she still had RPOs in the UK, but she then had moved abroad she would have been on her own to provide security-RPOs would not have moved with her.

 

[Osipi]

I think you're right. I don't see the Metropolitan Police/Scotland Yard assigning any of their protection officers on a permanent foreign detail.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Absolutely not. The British taxpayers wouldn't have stood for that either and rightly so. They pay to protect the BRITISH royal family and so should expect them to live in Britain.

I actually believe that if a member of the BRF chooses to go outside the UK for a holiday then they should pay for the security and not expect the British taxpayers to pick up the costs at all but that is just me.

 

[Rudolph]

Catherine has had the same PPO for the last 8 years. Emma Probert was with her on her wedding day and was with her today in Scotland.

 

[tommy100]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...Queen-Brexit-sparks-riots-streets-London.html

The Queen has been dragged into an extraordinary ‘Project Fear’ row after it emerged that civil servants have drawn up plans to evacuate the Royal Family if a No Deal Brexit causes riots on the streets of London.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that Whitehall contingency planners have included among their ‘worst case’ scenarios the need to move the Royals to safe locations away from the capital.

Officials in the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, the Government department responsible for emergency planning, have ‘repurposed’ a secret operation under which the Royals could have been accommodated in various country houses to protect them from enemy forces during the Cold War.

Oh what madness

 

[Lilyflo]

"Plans to evacuate" ? How dramatic. Presumably they'd just hop in a helicopter & go to their country retreats like they do most weekends.

 

[tommy100]

I thought the same...houses in the country? The implication is to some sort of secretive country house like the plans was in WW2 in there was an invasion. Much more likely the Royals would simply stay in their own houses outside of London. There have been marches and protests outside BP before so it would take a lot IMO to cause an evacuation.

 

[Mbruno]

In the news today: the British government is reported to have reactivated old Cold War-era plans to evacuate the Queen and other members of the RF from London to a "secure location" in the event of riots in the capital following a no-deal Brexit.

 

[Mbruno]

I thought the same...houses in the country? The implication is to some sort of secretive country house like the plans was in WW2 in there was an invasion. Much more likely the Royals would simply stay in their own houses outside of London. There have been marches and protests outside BP before so it would take a lot IMO to cause an evacuation.

Since they are using Cold War plans, I assume there must be undisclosed safe houses, maybe even bunkers that would be used in the event of a nuclear war as there are in the US. I don't think they are talking about Sandringham or Balmoral here.

 

[Curryong]

What a crock! In WW2 the Queen and Margaret were stowed away in Windsor Castle with Crawfie. This time I'm sure they can all have a cosy time at Sandringham for a couple of days. Norfolk is the last place that would have riots!

 

[wyevale]

Beyond risible.. THIS is a family that remained in central London throughout the Blitz !

Also there is NO evidence that either Remainers or Leavers hold the Family responsible for any of this...Rather it is Westminster that might need those plans..

#ProjectFear