Canada has said they will not pay for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their son, Archie’s security once the couple officially quits as working members of the Royal Family on 31 March.
Canada has been forking out the bill since the couple relocated there in November at the request of the Met Police.
Today, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) released a statement saying, “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex choosing to re-locate to Canada on a part-time basis presented our government with a unique and unprecedented set of circumstances.
“The RCMP has been engaged with officials in the UK from the very beginning regarding security considerations.
“As the Duke and Duchess are currently recognized as Internationally Protected Persons, Canada has an obligation to provide security assistance on an as needed basis.
“At the request of the Metropolitan Police, the RCMP has been providing assistance to the Met since the arrival of the Duke and Duchess to Canada intermittently since November 2019. The assistance will cease in the coming weeks, in keeping with their change in status.”
As Canadian tax dollars will not go toward security costs for the Duke and Duchess, the British taxpayer will have to pick up the security bill which some estimates have at running around £20 million a year.
According to a poll done by the Leger and the Angus Reid Institute, only 1 in 5 Canadians believed it was appropriate to use their tax dollars to pay for the security of the Sussexes.
A recent report by the Daily Mirror said that the security situation for the Sussexes in Canada is stretching an already depleted police force even thinner. Dai Davies, a former Met protection officer, told the Mirror, that the current security plans aren’t workable.
“In their current state, the plans are unworkable. Harry and Meghan’s situation has called for a complete ripping up of the rulebook and they are acting like none of the rules apply to them. There is already a severe lack of trained officers and this is only adding to the Met’s woes,” he said.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex cease to be working members of the Firm on 31 March. They will no longer use their styles of Royal Highness from that point on, although they will retain them.