Prince Harry Makes Key Point With Comparison to His Treatment by Royal Family to Prince Andrew’s

Amid the drama surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepping down from their roles as senior members of the royal family, the Duke of Sussex believed they would still be protected by “The Firm,” the nickname for the royal family and its associated parties and departments. According to Us Weekly, Harry “never” expected them to lose their palace security, particularly as his uncle, Prince Andrew, never lost his detail despite being at the center of a sexual assault scandal. However, that turned out to be exactly what occurred. 

Harry wrote at length in his memoir, Spare, about when he and his wife moved across the pond following their exit from royal life. When they did move to Canada, the prince assured his wife that they would not be stripped of their palace security, a topic which they also discussed in their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. He wrote that he “never” thought that they would lose their security, adding, Not in this climate of hate. Not after what happened to my mother [Princess Diana]. Also, not in the wake of my Uncle Andrew.” The Duke of Sussex went on to say about his uncle, “He was embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of the sexual assault of a young woman and no one had so much suggested that he lose his security. Whatever grievances people had against us, sex crimes weren’t on the list.”

Even though Harry thought that it would never happen, he and Meghan were stripped of their security detail. In his autobiography, Harry wrote that they were being denied the palace’s “obligation” and “its implicit promise” when they did lose their security. Just as the prince wrote, around this same time, the palace was dealing with a scandal surrounding Andrew, who is the younger brother of King Charles III. The Duke of York was accused of sexually assaulting Virginia Giuffre when she was 17 years old in connection with the sex trafficking ring led by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. In February 2022, a lawsuit against Andrew was settled out of court. A month prior, he was stripped of his military affiliations and royal patronages.

Harry and Meghan were shocked to learn that the palace was stripping them of their security. While The Firm denied them security, they were still protected for a few months by the Canadian government. They have since had to hire their own security detail. Although, in January 2022, Harry did have to petition to have adequate security when he and his family traveled back to the United Kingdom.