Taxpayers still forking out eye-watering sum to fund Prince Andrew's police protection
The Duke of York still receives taxpayer-funded police protection, despite no longer undertaking official duties, The Telegraph has learnt.
Prince Andrew’s entitlement to police bodyguards was subjected to a full review after he was exiled as a working royal by the Queen earlier this year, shortly before agreeing a hefty financial settlement with his sex abuse accuser.
The Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (known as Ravec) assessed the security threat but concluded that he was still entitled to police bodyguards.
The decision is likely to prove contentious because of the High Court legal claim brought by the Duke of Sussex against the committee’s decision to deny him and his family automatic security when he is in the UK.
The extent of Prince Andrew’s day-to-day activities since being stripped of royal duties is unknown beyond horse riding and regular visits to the Queen. But he will continue to be entitled to a personal protection officer whenever he leaves his home. His property on the Windsor estate has permanent security arrangements.
The annual cost of his personal security is unknown but has been variously estimated at anything between £500,000 and £3 million.
His daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, had their official royal security removed several years ago, while other non-working royals, including Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips have never had it as adults.
The legal battle currently being fought by Prince Harry has shone a light on the secretive workings of Ravec, which decides who receives protection and at what level.
Prince Harry last month won the right to a judicial review of the committee’s decision to assess his entitlement to security on a case-by-case basis, based on the alleged lack of transparency over its decision-making.
He questioned whether the committee was fully independent as it featured members of the Royal household, including Sir Edward Young, the Queen’s private secretary.
The Duke has also lodged an application for a second judicial review of the decision not to allow him to fund his Scotland Yard security privately, which is pending.
His lawyers argued in court that government policy allowed for state security to be provided to all within the “immediate line of succession”. They claimed that in his case, it had been applied in an “overly rigid” manner as the Duke, who is sixth in line to the throne, had been excluded from that scope.
Prince Andrew is only ninth in line to the throne and shares in common with his nephew a lack of official royal role.
However, as one of the Queen’s four children and a permanent UK resident, his circumstances are markedly different. The recent high profile civil case in which Virginia Giuffre accused the Duke of raping and abusing her three times in 2001, when she was 17, may have been considered to heighten his security risk.
The Duke, who denied any wrongdoing, settled the civil case in February but was left to do so as a private citizen after the Queen stripped him of his military and charitable affiliations and banned him from using his HRH title.
Prince Andrew targeted by intruders
He was last year targeted by multiple intruders who tried to gain access to the Grade II-listed Windsor home he shares with his former wife, the Duchess of York.
In April, a 43-year-old Spaniard who claimed to be “Irene Windsor” was waved into the property after telling officers on the gate that she had a lunch date with the Duke.
She was arrested on suspicion of burglary and later sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Just days later, a 31-year-old man and 29-year-old woman were arrested after being found trespassing on the grounds.
In December, a woman was arrested after banging on his car window and verbally abusing him as he drove through Windsor.
Buckingham Palace said it did not comment on security matters.
