Andy Burnham has stepped into the debate surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan’s imminent return to Britain, saying that questions about who will foot the bill for their security arrangements are a ‘private matter’.
The couple’s surprise decision to move back to the UK this month caught a lot of people off guard, including King Charles himself, who was reportedly only told about the plans three days before the news went public. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are set to settle into a non-royal residence outside London after years living in California.
Burnham’s comments came as questions quickly mounted over the practicalities of the return, particularly around personal protection. Harry famously lost his publicly funded police security when he and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020, and he has since funded private security arrangements in the US at considerable personal expense. The question of what happens now they are back on British soil is one that many people want a clear answer to.
But Burnham was not giving much away. Speaking publicly, the Prime Minister wished the couple well in their move and acknowledged the significance of their decision to return, while firmly batting away any suggestion that security funding was a matter for public debate. His position essentially draws a line between the couple’s private arrangements and any question of taxpayer involvement.
That distinction matters a great deal to many people in England who have followed Harry’s long-running legal battle to secure police protection for himself and his family when visiting the UK. He took the government to court over the issue, arguing that the automatic removal of his publicly funded security when he stepped back from royal duties put his family at risk. Those legal proceedings dragged on for years and generated enormous public interest.
The couple’s return has been described as a significant moment in the ongoing saga of their relationship with the royal family and with Britain more broadly. Since leaving for the US, Harry and Meghan have given a string of high-profile interviews, released a Netflix documentary series about their lives, and Harry published his memoir Spare, which contained a number of explosive claims about the royal family and the institution surrounding it.
Relations with Buckingham Palace have been strained ever since, though there have been occasional signs of a thaw. The fact that King Charles was informed of the move only days before it became public knowledge suggests the couple are operating very much on their own terms, even if they are returning to British soil.
Where exactly they will be living has not been fully confirmed, but reports indicate it will be a private property outside London rather than anything connected to the royal estate. Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, which was their UK base before they were asked to vacate it, is no longer an option.
For many people in England, the big unanswered question remains security. Harry has previously spoken in detail about the threats he believes his family faces and has been vocal about what he sees as the unfairness of losing protection simply because he chose a different path from the rest of the royal family. Now that he is back in the country, those concerns do not simply disappear.
Whether private funding will cover all security needs, or whether some arrangement with the government might eventually be reached, remains unclear. Burnham’s insistence that it is a private matter suggests the government has no immediate plans to wade into the debate, but given the level of public interest in everything Harry and Meghan do, it seems unlikely the question will go away any time soon.
The couple’s return marks the start of a new chapter, and England will be watching closely to see how it unfolds.