Prince Harry is reportedly pushing hard for taxpayer-funded police protection for Meghan Markle and their kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, after the family made the surprising decision to move back to the U.K. for an extended period.
The Duke of Sussex has spent years fighting to regain his police protection and previously said he didn’t feel safe bringing his family to the U.K. without it. But now that the Sussexes are living in the U.K. again, a source close to Prince Harry has claimed: “The game has changed.”
Prince Harry reportedly wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in August asking her to intervene over his family’s police protection now that the family are in the U.K. His legal team has also reportedly alleged that the former head of RAVEC knew about a 2023 al-Qaeda threat against Prince Harry but failed to pass the information to his security team or U.S. authorities, adding further weight to his renewed security concerns. Keep reading for more info…
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Prince Harry Reportedly Pushing Hard For Taxpayer-Funded Security After UK Move
Despite moving back to the U.K., Prince Harry, Meghan, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet reportedly still don't have state-funded police protection. Instead, Harry and Meghan rely on privately funded security officers, who cannot carry firearms in the U.K. or access the same intelligence as British police.
ITV News reported that their protection had not been increased beyond being given the phone number of a police liaison officer.
Good Morning America's James Longman reported that Prince Harry is now "pushing hard for the UK government to pay for his family's security."
A source close to Prince Harry reportedly told The Sunday Times: "His security team cannot even carry a cricket bat as a means of defence – all they'd have is angry rhetoric and their physical strength if someone attacked him or his family."
"With his return home, the game has changed: the first duty of a government is to protect its citizens and that includes Harry, his wife and his children," the source continued, adding: "It's not about the role he has here – it's about the risk he and his family face, and he cannot simply stop being the son of the King."
Prince Harry Raises Concerns About RAVEC Following Alleged Al-Qaeda Threat
Prince Harry's renewed push also comes amid serious questions over the threats he has faced and how they have been handled.
According to The Sunday Times, Prince Harry's legal team alleged in his August letter to Shabana Mahmood that the former head of RAVEC knew about an al-Qaeda threat against the Duke in 2023, but failed to pass the information to either Prince Harry's security team or U.S. authorities. The FBI reportedly later alerted Harry's security team to intelligence concerning an al-Qaeda document that referenced his "assassination."
And the alleged 2023 threat wasn't an isolated concern. Earlier this year, ITV reported that a private security assessment commissioned by Prince Harry's security team identified six terrorist plots against him, five of which originated in the U.K.
Prince Harry Has Spent Years Fighting The Decision To Remove His Family's Police Protection
Prince Harry has spent years challenging the decision to remove his automatic police protection after he and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals in 2020, including taking his fight through the courts. However, he ultimately lost his appeal in 2025.
Amid Prince Harry's concerns about bringing his family to the U.K. without adequate police protection, Archie and Lilibet hadn't visited since Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022, with King Charles understandably sad about it because he was desperate to see his grandchildren.
Things finally changed in July, when Prince Harry and Meghan brought the children back to Britain. The family reportedly received adequate security for the visit, and Archie and Lilibet reunited with King Charles at Highgrove – a meeting reportedly shrouded in so much secrecy that even the Prince and Princess of Wales were kept in the dark about it.
Prince Harry Previously Said It Was 'Impossible' To Bring His Family Back To The UK Safely
Prince Harry's current push is particularly significant given how strongly he has previously spoken about bringing Meghan and their children to Britain without adequate protection.
Following his unsuccessful security appeal in 2025, Prince Harry told the BBC: "For the time being, it's impossible for me to take my family back to the U.K. safely. I can't see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point."
He added: "I love my country. I always have done, despite what some people in that country have done. I miss the U.K. And it's really quite sad I won't be able to show my children my homeland."
And during the 2024 ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial, Prince Harry explained the dangers he feared Meghan could face in Britain. "It's still dangerous, and all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read," he said.
"And whether it's a knife or acid, whatever it is, and these are things that are of genuine concern for me," he continued, and reiterated: "It's one of the reasons why I won't bring my wife back to this country."
