Most Britons oppose using public money to cover security costs for Prince Harry and Meghan when they return to the UK, according to a new poll.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were reported last week to be relocating back to Britain after six years in the United States, as their children prepare to begin at new schools in the UK.
The move has renewed questions over who should pay for the protection Harry and his family are seeking, following his previous legal dispute with the Home Office over security arrangements and costs.
In the latest survey, 71 per cent of respondents — equivalent to seven in ten — said the Government should not cover security bills for Harry’s family.
The poll of 2,128 British adults also found that 87 per cent believe the Sussexes should use their own private funds to pay all, or at least the majority, of the protection expenses.
Meanwhile, 52 per cent said the King’s private wealth should contribute in some form, whether by covering all, most or part of the fees.
The question of taxpayer-funded security for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has remained contentious, with debate intensifying amid claims that a review by the risk management board of the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, known as Ravec, was completed last month.
Harry and Meghan’s children, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, have reportedly been enrolled at schools in Britain and are due to start lessons in September.
Meghan and Harry are seen here at Bondi Beach during their visit to Australia in April this year – the couple are returning to live in the UK, with questions over how their security will be funded
It is thought they will live at a private, non-royal residence outside London – with suggestions they could be moving to the Cotswolds.
Since leaving for the US they have been living in Montecito, California, while also owning a holiday home in Portugal.
The King was said to have been taken aback by learning of the homecoming plans only days before it was made public – having not been told when Harry and Meghan met him on their visit to Britain last month.
On their imminent return to the UK, the Sussexes’ status will remain the same, with the couple not being offered a ‘half in, half out’ option when it comes to their roles.
Other non-working royals such as Harry’s cousins Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie do not receive police protection.
Andy Burnham last week refused to be drawn on the matter, with the Prime Minister saying the Duke and Duchess’s security – which could cost £5million a year – was a ‘private matter’.
A previous YouGov poll last week found fewer than a quarter of Britons believe Harry, 41, and 45-year-old Meghan should move back to the UK.
Harry and ex-Suits star Meghan, who were married at St George’s Chapel in Windsor in May 2018, were once dubbed part of the ‘Fab Four’ with the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – now the Prince and Princess of Wales.
But in March 2019, Buckingham Palace announced Harry and Meghan would set up their own household, breaking from the joint operation they had with William and Kate amid reports of rifts between the two couples.
In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced they intended to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family, become financially independent and split their time between the UK and North America.
By March that year they had set up a permanent home in California, officially stepped down as senior royals and stopped using their HRH titles.
The fallout worsened after accusations Harry publicly levelled at members of the Royal Family, including his brother, in his memoir Spare and his Netflix documentary.
In his autobiography Spare, released just months after Queen Elizabeth II’s death, Harry accused William of physically attacking him and pushing him into a dog bowl in a row over Meghan.
He also alleged it was William and Kate who encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party in 2005 and ‘howled’ with laughter when they saw it.
In their Netflix series three months after the Queen’s death, the Sussexes said Kensington Palace lied to protect William when it issued a statement denying a story he had bullied Harry out of the Royal Family.
Harry also wrote of how Charles pleaded with his sons during a tense meeting at Windsor just after the funeral of Prince Philip, saying: ‘Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery.’
The new YouGov poll for The Times suggests 32 per cent of people want William and Harry to reconcile and think it is possible, while 26 per cent desire so but think it unlikely.
When asked to whom they felt favourable, 76 per cent went for William, 74 per cent Catherine, 31 per cent Harry and 22 per cent Meghan.
The Duchess of Sussex was able to travel to the UK in July with Archie and Lilibet to join Harry when he came to the end of a week-long series of events promoting next year’s Invictus Games.
During the visit, the Duke and Duchess took their children to see the King for the first time in four years at his Highgrove home.
