It must seem absolutely bonkers to Prince Harry. From the time he was a babe in arms, through his toddler days and his entire school life, he was shadowed by protection officers. Day and night, he knew they were close by. It must have been annoying for a young lad. Sometimes he tried to give them the slip, running out from Kensington Palace to go shopping in the High Street. But they kept close watch over him even as he partied the night away in London clubs.
Then he joined the army, fought for his country, by his own reckoning killed 25 Taliban fighters – and now he finds himself stripped of protection. But he is still King Charles’s son and, in the words of a new security assessment drawn up by his own team, he remains “a symbol of the Crown”.
I’m sure this new report is right when it says that extremists with grievances against Britain – including jihadists or others that oppose the Commonwealth – don’t take his specific role into account. Many people here in the UK would be pushed to explain which royals are classified as “working members “and which are not. To those who wish this country ill, Harry is a Prince, a royal – and a target.
The report, seen by ITV News, details dozens of threats and potential attacks facing Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex – including an Al Qaeda document calling for Harry’s assassination. It says the Metropolitan Police are aware of nearly 500 potential stalkers targeting the Royal Family, of which half have demonstrated a threat against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their two children.
