Harry Windsor, grandson of the UK head of state / Wikimedia Commons
Harry, grandson of the UK monarch, is challenging a government decision that he should not receive police protection when in the UK — even if he covers the costs himself.
As a result of reading that story, I've got an earworm of the theme from Harry's Game.
(Lovely Gaelic song by Clannad. I don't have a clue what it means. Hauntingly beautiful. Listen to it when you can. But I digress...)
Let's say former president, now private citizen, Donald Trump wants to visit the United Kingdom in the near future. He is really concerned for his own protection. In the US, he is normally accompanied by a phalanx of armed former marines but he can't take them to the UK because only serving police officers are allowed to carry firearms in public in that country.
Private citizen Trump is willing to pay for police officers to guard him because there is a credible threat upon his life.
Surely, he should be allowed to do so?
I suspect the way most people will respond to this is based on whether or not they like Trump.
My take is simple: Police officers in the UK are paid for by taxpayers. Outsourcing them to a single private citizen means there are fewer resources in service of those who pay.
From where I sit, former prince, now private citizen, Harry Windsor is in exactly the same position.
(By the way, I loved that episode of Doctor Who set in the future when the Queen of the UK is a black woman, and maybe Meghan Markle is tied into that storyline...)
