Prince Harry gets ‘cast iron assurances’ of protection at Jubilee

Prince Harry has reportedly been given “cast-iron assurances” from the royal family that he, wife Meghan Markle and their two children will receive police protection when they arrive in the UK Wednesday to attend the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, their son, Archie, 3, and daughter, Lilibet, who turns 1 Saturday, will travel from their home in California with their private security guards, the Mirror reported.

Once they touch down on British soil, they will come under the protection of the Metropolitan Police’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Unit as part of an agreement that reportedly took weeks to hammer out.

“He has been in constant contact with the relevant parties and made it very clear that he wouldn’t travel without receiving cast-iron assurances over the safety of his family,” a source said to be close to the Sussexes told the outlet.

According to reporting by the Mirror’s royal editor, the arrangement calls for the 37-year-old duke and his family to be guarded by specially trained Met cops only while they’re staying at their Windsor residence, Frogmore Cottage, or attending official engagements celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne.

Should the jet-setting couple choose to attend any private events during their trip, they will have to make separate security arrangements and foot the bill for them.

It will be Meghan’s only second visit to her husband’s home country in more than two years, since the couple caused a global furor by ditching their royal duties in 2020 and decamping to California via Canada.

The visit comes less than three months after Harry sued the British Home Office for refusing to let him pay for police protection while in the UK, allegedly telling him that Met cops were “not guns for hire.”

His legal team said at the time the duke has been unable to bring his former “Suits” star wife and children to visit his family because it is too dangerous without police protection, and their private security team from California does not have proper jurisdiction abroad, or access to intelligence resources.

Although Harry’s legal claim has not yet been settled, the source close to the Sussexes said of the duke’s decision to travel to the UK this week: “He is satisfied the right procedures are in place and they are all very much looking forward to this week’s celebrations and of course getting to spend time with Her Majesty.” 

Harry and Meghan are expected to attend the Service of Thanksgiving with the Queen at St Paul’s Cathedral in London Friday, followed by the BBC’s Party at the Palace Saturday as part of a four-day national celebration.

Harry’s 96-year-old grandmother has not seen her great-grandson Archie since he was a baby, and has never met her great-granddaughter Lilibet, who was named after the Queen’s own childhood moniker.

The long-serving monarch might get a chance to see her young namesake in person at Lilibet’s birthday party Saturday, if she decides to skip a horserace in Epsom.