The mystery of Harry's 'unanswered' calls
Is there more to the security issue than we think?
Hi everyone,
It's Ainhoa here with a post about Prince Harry.
This week's cover story on People magazine caught my eye, because it's all about the Duke of Sussex and his lack of contact with his family, namely his father King Charles.
"Harry & Charles: the real reason they're no longer speaking," reads the front cover of the US publication.
Apparently, the extent of father and son's estranged relationship is such that the monarch is blanking Harry's calls.
The pair have not seen each other since February, when Harry made a fleeting visit to the UK to meet his father after the King's cancer diagnosis was made public. And despite a positive reunion between the two, their relationship and communication have apparently since deteriorated.
"He gets 'unavailable right now,'" a friend of Harry's told People. "His calls go unanswered. He has tried to reach out about the King's health, but those calls go unanswered too."
When Harry again returned to London for the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games in May, he did not see his father because of the King's "full schedule", a Sussex spokesperson said. Neither did he meet up with his brother Prince William, with whom a reconciliation seems to be even more unlikely by the day.
The real issue here
But sources close to Harry hinted at a deeper issue, according to People. He had apparently wanted to discuss his ongoing battle over security, which he has been fighting the Home Office for in court for over four years.
Harry believes that, as sovereign, his father could intervene to help him get the protection he wants when he's in the UK, a notion that is “wholly incorrect” according to a palace source. Constitutionally, the monarch is powerless to bestow police protection. Instead, power lies under the auspices of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC), which operates on behalf of the UK government.
Harry has always made clear that he doesn't feel he and his family can be totally safe in the UK until they are given full protection. It's one of the reasons his wife Meghan Markle and their young children haven't set foot in the country for years (the Duchess was last in London for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September 2022), and another reason why the couple chose to relocate to the US, where they can have full access to armed security.
Harry's fears aren't unfounded. I don't think anyone can really appreciate what it must feel like to receive death threats until it's happened to them personally.
Neil Basu, who was in charge of royal protection before the Sussexes left the UK and is an outgoing assistant commissioner of specialist operations at Scotland Yard, has previously said that "disgusting and very real" threats had been levelled against Harry and Meghan.
"If you'd seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it, the kind of rhetoric that's online... you would feel under threat all of the time. We had teams investigating it. People have been prosecuted for those threats."
Another point of view
Playing devil's advocate, the more cynical argument would be that Harry is consistently banging the drum for police protection so that the UK finally accepts that there is a legitimate threat to him and his family. And if RAVEC were to upgrade his security, it would have a very significant knock-on effect…