More than 20,000 sign petition demanding British taxpayers are not left footing the £20m security bill for Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Prince Archie
- Page set up earlier this week demands taxpayers don’t foot bill for security
- Canadian government announced it will refuse to keep guarding the couple
- Petition claims using public purse to fund their protection is ‘undemocratic’
More than 20,000 people have now signed a petition demanding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s £20 million security bill does not land at the feet of British taxpayers.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s announcement that they intend to quit as senior working royals at the end of March, and move to North America to pursue lucrative commercial careers, was met with shock across the globe.
However, the Canadian government, which has a legal obligation to provide security to so-called internationally protected persons, last week refused to keep guarding the couple, and baby son Archie, in keeping with their ‘change in status’.
The security bill for Meghan and Harry, pictured, will not be covered by the Canadian government and now thousands of British people have signed a petition demanding the cost doesn’t fall at the feet of the taxpayer
More than 5,000 people have already signed the petition, which claims it is the couple’s ‘own responsibility to provide their own security’
As a result, it looks likely the UK taxpayer will fund their security, but a poll answered by more than 14,000 viewers of ITV’s Good Morning Britain earlier this week found nine in ten people opposed such a plan.
Experts say the Sussexes’ decision to live abroad, as well as their insistence on retaining their official police protection, will see the bill for guarding them rocket – and prove a huge strain on manpower.
The extra security cost of keeping nine-month-old Archie in Canada without his parents this week could be £50,000, it was reported over the weekend.
Now a new petition, already been signed by thousands of people, claims the couple are ‘already multi-millionaires in their own right’ and that using the public purse to fund their protection is ‘undemocratic’.
A message on the site reads: ‘They have made their choice to step back from Royal duties, and to live abroad and travel globally to achieve financial independence.
‘It is, therefore, their own responsibility to provide their own security, not the responsibility of the UK taxpayers.
‘Therefore, we the undersigned object to paying for Harry, Meghan and their son’s global security costs, and to stop the UK Parliament, House of Commons and the House of Lords, from making any contribution towards them.’
Click here to view the petition.