Round-the-clock security for Prince Harry and his family when they move to the UK could cost the taxpayer up to £5million a year, it has been claimed.
Dai Davies, the Met’s former head of royalty protection, said Harry’s decision to return to live in the UK with wife Meghan and their children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, ‘raised the temperature’ towards greater protection.
The Sussexes have previously failed in their long-running attempts to be granted security upon their visits to the UK after it was downgraded when they stepped away as working royals in 2020.
But their imminent arrival back in Harry’s homeland, with their children due to enrol at British schools, means ‘the highest levels of Government’ will need to review the decision, Mr Davies said.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘The chances of him getting this protection now have gone up considerably.
‘This has changed it – bringing the family, being resident here, his profile… the threat level must now be looked at carefully again.
‘I’m not saying he gets it (the protection he is asking for), but it has to be properly professionally reviewed again in my view.’
He added: ‘There is a genuine potential threat, I would say, professionally (to Harry and his family).
Prince Harry will return to live in the UK, accompanied by his family, having previously said it was not safe for them to do so
‘It’s one thing when he came alone, this (the Sussexes living in the UK) has changed the whole dynamic as far as I’m concerned.’
Andy Burnham refused to be drawn on Prince Harry’s security arrangements after it was announced he was returning to the UK for good last night.
The Prime Minister said it was a ‘private matter’ as questions were raised about who will foot the bill.
The Home Office, which has fought a long battle with the Duke over taxpayer-funded arrangements, has reiterated its security was ‘rigorous and proportionate’.
The Sussexes will live in a non-royal residence in the UK, while their status as ‘private individuals’ will not change.
Harry previously said it was not safe for his wife and children to travel to the country of his birth.
When he lost a Court of Appeal challenge against the Home Office over his security arrangements while in the UK in 2025, he told the BBC he ‘can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK’.
But their decision that the family will be leaving California and living at an undisclosed location in the UK outside of London raises fresh questions about whether Harry’s opinions over the threat to his family’s safety had changed, or whether he had paid for security privately.
Dai Davies, the Met’s former head of royalty protection, said the Sussexes’ security arrangments would need to be reviewed upon their return to the UK
The Home Office, however, appeared to stand firm on its decision not to foot the bill.
A spokesman said: ‘The UK Government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate.
‘It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.’
Mr Burnham, when asked by reporters on a visit to West Yorkshire whether the Government would establish and fund their security, said: ‘Well, this is a private matter.
‘It’s a matter for for Harry and for Megan, and we wish them well in the moves that they’re making.’
Ailsa Anderson, Queen Elizabeth II’s former press secretary, said the public would want answers about how any security arrangements were funded.
She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: ‘There will be questions asked – here is a non-working member of the Royal family, back in the UK.
‘Should the British taxpayer really have to foot the bill for his security?
‘People are struggling to put food on their tables, to pay their heating bills.
‘I don’t think it will sit well with the British public if they feel they have to pay for security for two non-working members of the Royal family.’
The Home Secretary does not get involved in security arrangements for members of the Royal Family or other key public figures, and decisions are taken by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures.
The committee’s membership includes the Home Office, Metropolitan Police and Royal Household, who work together to advise the independent chair in making decisions, which are informed by expert risk assessments and in line with Government policy.
The 2025 legal challenge came after Harry and Meghan left the UK and first moved to Canada, and then California, after announcing they wanted to step back as senior royals in 2020.
The Duke has made fleeting visits to the UK since leaving six years ago.
And in July, Harry and Meghan took Archie and Lilibet to see their grandfather, the King, for the first time in four years when they visited Charles and Camilla at Highgrove in Gloucestershire.
