When Harry and Meghan stepped down from their positions as senior royals, they made it clear one of their main priorities would be protecting their son, Archie from the glare of the spotlight.
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But as the couple have largely walked away from public life to focus on building a new home in Canada, royal fans are waiting eagerly to catch another glimpse of Archie.
Now Princess Diana’s former protection officer Ken Wharfe tells New Idea exclusively the doting royal parents are doing the right thing by keeping Archie behind the walls of their rented Vancouver Island mansion.
“There’s no doubt Harry and Meghan are concerned about his safety,” Ken explains.
“There are security risks anyway as two people, and once you’ve got children on board, it becomes an added risk.”
Based on his years of work with the royal family, Ken believes the family will likely have a team of six officers permanently protecting them, 24 hours a day.
“Archie will be protected now for the rest of his life. The security that is afforded to the royal family is of such a high calibre that [any incidents such as kidnapping are] unlikely,” he says.
It’s been noted that Archie was away from his parents for four days, no doubt to keep him safe and protected, while Harry and Meghan recently travelled to the US, where they visited San Francisco’s Stanford University for what was described as a “brainstorming session” with professors.
They also travelled to Miami to attend a J.P. Morgan conference where Harry gave a speech.
Ken explains that it was wise for the royal couple to keep their son at home.
“Archie as a royal baby will have a nanny and a nursery. He’s not going to go anywhere because it just adds to the security risk. I’m not an alarmist, but because of where they are now, they are in my view at greater risk.”
Archie was last spotted in public over a month ago. On January 20, he was photographed in a baby carrier strapped to Meghan who was walking with her son and two dogs near the family’s Vancouver Island home.
It was later revealed that Prince Harry was so heartbroken at this breach of security that he swiftly issued legal warnings against the British newspapers who had published the pictures.
As well as royal fans being concerned that Archie is missing from the public gaze, other members of the royal family in the UK are increasingly concerned he won’t be a part of their lives if he continues to grow up overseas.
The Queen is reportedly “saddened” by this.
“He will miss growing up around his grandparents, his aunt, uncle and, of course, his young cousins,” a royal source told The Express newspaper last month.
But it appears Harry and Meghan simply believe they’re doing the best for their son.
Says Ken: “What you have here with Harry and Meghan is two non-traditionalists. They’ve said no, we’re not going to do it that way, we’ll show you Archie when he’s ready and we’ll do it our way.”
At the moment, Meghan and Harry’s security is heavily subsidised by the UK taxpayer, but Ken fears that if they remain “non-operational” royals, this may eventually be stopped, which concerns him greatly.
“When Diana jettisoned her security in ’94 against my advice and the advice of others, she had no security, and finally ended up [with a] team of security officers that had no experience working with high profile individuals. And it’s my firm belief that there’s evidence that their inability and lack of professional conduct and experience led ultimately to her death.”
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