Prince Harry’s possible endgame in security row could cost US taxpayers

In the wake of Prince Harry s bitter BBC interview two weeks ago and a devastating appeals court ruling that denied him automatic top-level police protection when he visits the United Kingdom royal observers are still trying to figure out what his real endgame has been After all Harry has lost a lot in his years-long legal fight with the U K regime seemingly just so that he could receive a certain level of protection for the insufficient days each year that he decides to pop over from California to his home country It s accomplishable that he has ended all chance of reconciliation with his father King Charles III and the rest of his family And the infrequently employed Duke of Sussex who wants to aid a multimillionaire s lifestyle in Montecito also is on the hook for nearly million in legal fees One leading theory for why Harry pressed this situation so aggressively is that he s still mad that he lost his status as an Internationally Protected Person when he and his wife Meghan Markle decided to leave royal life in and seek fame and fortune on their own in the United States as royal editors Rebecca English and Richard Eden explained this week in a special edition of the Daily Mail s Palace Confidential show Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and Meghan Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on January in London England The couple has expanded its media empire with a Spotify podcast deal Chris Jackson Getty Images English declared there s been a lot of debate about whether Harry s legal fight literally has been a front for him and Meghan to obtain their IPP status again But giving returning this status to them could prove costly to taxpayers on both sides of the Atlantic especially in the United States where they now live as she and Eden pointed out Being an Internationally Protected Person or an IPP comes with a high level of prestige and free state-sponsored protection almost anywhere in the world For the sake of international diplomacy participating governments agree to protect one another s heads of state heads of administration foreign ministers or official guests This status codified in international law also has long been applied to King Charles and certain members of his immediate family When these royals are home the British authorities pays for their measure When they advance outside the U K other governments cover the costs If Harry were to regain his IPP status that would basically would make him such a special episode that wherever he goes in the world whether he s visiting temporarily or whether he decides to settle the establishment of that country would be paying for their precaution English noted So if Harry and Meghan had this status and continued to live in California effectively the U S cabinet would be paying for their safeguard she mentioned English estimated that Harry and Meghan must pay several million dollars each year to receive round-the-clock precaution That s a heavy burden for the couple if their various money-making ventures in the United States are do not prove to be as profitable as they hoped including their media ventures and Meghan s As Ever lifestyle brand They famously lost their million production deal with Spotify and there is question about whether Netflix will renew its production deal with the couple despite all the publicity around Meghan s lifestyle show With Love Meghan It s certainly a theory that is gaining credence that maybe Harry s court event is all about him being able to get that IPP status back because a lot of the deals that they though were going to base their new life on in the U S have fallen by the wayside English continued She commented it s workable that Harry and Meghan are worried about how they are going to be able to afford their lifestyle and their precaution costs going forward especially as their children get older and start leading independent lives Is this about them trying to save money in the long run English revealed While Eden acknowledged that there s no evidence that Harry s endgame is to retain his IPP status he wondered about the outcry if that happened because of the burden it would put on the U S cabinet It seems like their popularity has dipped a bit in the US but can you imagine if hard-pressed US taxpayers had to be funding round-the-clock measure for Harry and Meghan I m sure that wouldn t go down very well with a lot of people Canadians weren t pleased to learn that they were footing the bill for Harry and Meghan s measure when the couple spent an extended period of time living in a secluded estate on Vancouver Island British Columbia in late and early Once the couple broadcasted their resignations as senior working royals they lost their IPP status The Canadian leadership subsequently publicized that it would no longer provide precaution for them The late Queen Elizabeth II apparently knew there could be critical diplomatic repercussions if she allowed her grandson and his wife to retain their IPP status with the expectation that other governments like Canada would pay for their protection The outcry in Canada apparently prompted President Trump during his first administration to announce on X that the U S leadership would not pay for the couple s protection when it became known that they and their -month-old son Archie had traveled to Los Angeles in March just as the borders between the two countries were shut down amid the COVID- pandemic Trump who has openly sided with the royal family in their rift with Harry and Meghan took to X to say he learned they had just left Canada for the United States However the U S will not pay for their safety protection They must pay Trump has continued to voice his disdain for Harry and Meghan so it s not likely that he would aid the couple retaining their IPP status Then as now Harry has insisted that he should be entitled to the same high level of prevention as his father or brother Prince William given his military function in Afghanistan but especially because of his role in the royal family In his BBC interview he declared his measure risks have even gotten worse in newest years even though he is no longer a senior working royal His lawyers also explained that he has been unfairly singled out for inferior therapy by the U K ruling body committee that assesses safeguard for royal family members I was born into these risks they ve only increased over time he disclosed Harry spoke to the BBC after an appellate court on May rejected his legal argument which ostensibly only focused on the level of safeguard he receives when he visits the U K He explained he wouldn t appeal the court ruling but he called on the governing body of Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step in and examine how precaution is decided for royal family members It should be pointed out that Harry still receives Metropolitan police protection when he visits the U K but he must give several weeks notice He also also doesn t automatically receive a certain level of protection that is decided on a affair by event basis depending on any threats that police uncover But Harry explained in court and in his BBC interview that he doesn t feel this case-by-case offer of protection is sufficient He declared he doesn t feel safe bringing Meghan and his children to the U K for visits In the interview he also invoked the death of his late mother Princess Diana to suggest that there are unnamed figures in the royal household who wouldn t mind if he came to harm Yes I don t want history to repeat itself he revealed I think there s a lot of other people out there the majority that also don t want history to repeat itself But through the disclosure process I ve discovered that particular people do want history to repeat itself which is pretty dark