Prince Harry and Meghan will get ring-of-steel security for UK appearance but no official cops amid protection row
PRINCE Harry and Meghan will be given a ring-of-steel security operation for a charity appearance in the UK tomorrow amid a row over their protection.
But it last night became clear that police in Manchester will not be providing officers, with the couple’s own security team and the event organisers expected to protect them.
A Greater Manchester Police source said: “It is my understanding this event is not receiving a dedicated police resource and is being privately secured.”
It is believed US-based Harry and Meghan flew into the UK yesterday and were at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor last night.
The news came as a royal source told the Sunday Times how the Queen has been rocked by Harry and Meg’s antics.
They said Her Majesty “doesn’t want to be on tenterhooks all the time, waiting to see what the next nuclear bomb will be — that will take its toll”.
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The Duke of Sussex is suing the Home Office, saying the decision to remove his taxpayer-funded official armed police bodyguards here is “unfair” and “illegal”.
A major security operation is underway in Manchester ahead of Meghan’s first speech on these shores since March 2020.
She is expected to give an address on gender equality at the opening ceremony of One Young World young leaders’ forum.
The area outside the 2,300-seater Bridgewater Hall will be cleared an hour and half before.
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It means the couple will avoid any chance of hearing public boos, a smattering of which greeted them at the Queen’s thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral in June.
They will then travel to Dusseldorf on Tuesday to mark a year before Harry’s next Invictus Games.
Although the Sussexes’ official protection arrangements in the UK throughout the week are not clear, it is believed they will be afforded “ad hoc security measures”.
And they will fall under royal cops’ protection while staying in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
‘On ad hoc basis’
The tight security around the Sussexes’ appearances comes after it emerged Harry moaned he would be unlikely to see his grandmother at Balmoral unless his High Court security whinge is resolved.
A source said: “There is provision for individuals to be protected on an ad hoc basis. We saw when Harry arrived for the Jubilee that he was tailed by the Queen’s own car with security guards.
“There is no way anyone would want to let anything happen to either when they are on UK soil.”
Harry and Meghan are using their old Frogmore Cottage home after renewing the lease in April.
The five-bed property is a short walk across the Windsor estate to Adelaide Cottage, where William and Kate, both 40, and their children moved in this weekend.
The Sussexes will not see the rest of the Royal Family on their whistlestop trip either.
The Queen will remain in Balmoral and swear in the new Prime Minister from the Scottish castle — the first time she has performed that duty away from Buckingham Palace in her 70-year reign.
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There have been worsening health fears for Her Majesty but palace sources say she is expected to be pictured for the first time in weeks when she greets the incoming PM on Tuesday.
Charles will also remain in Scotland when Harry and Meghan are in England.
