Iluvbertie
Imperial Majesty
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- Jun 29, 2004
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I remember reading that when Charles went to Cambridge his RPO decided to study for his own degree and earnt a 2.1 to Charles 2.2
I remember reading that when Charles went to Cambridge his RPO decided to study for his own degree and earnt a 2.1 to Charles 2.2
Read more: Royal family threatened by more than 400 stalkers as crack police team calls on most 'high risk' - Mirror OnlineA specialist police team are monitoring more than 400 stalkers who could be a threat to the royal family, new figures reveal.
Officers and psychiatric nurses are visiting the most “high risk” fanatics and 11 have been arrested in the last three years.
The specially trained Fixated Threat Assessment Centre are also combing online sources to identity potential threats.
Referrals to FTAC involving those obsessed with members of the royal family have almost doubled in two years, from 73 in 2014 to 137 for the first eleven months of 2016.
In total 439 cases were sent to be monitored since 2013 including 20 deemed “high risk”.
Same for a high ranking royal such as Harry. He has 24 h protection - and they stay in a hotel nearby.
I'm not so sure that Harry's RPOs always stay in nearby hotels even on personal trips. I read that during the recent African holiday the Protection Officers (and on some parts of the trip, local forces too) had stayed in tents along with Harry and Meghan.
RPOs certainly were on the houseboat on an African river trip he and Chelsy took, I remember, and there was a report that they were there in Chelsy's London flat once when an alarm went off in the middle of the night, caused by it being accidentally being switched on near the bed. That was probably embarrassing for the couple when the RPOs rushed in.
I believe that two of them at a time do set up quarters in Meghan's Toronto home (probably in the spare bedroom) when Harry is there. They have to be near him at all times, eating, sleeping, shopping, enjoying himself. If they were in a hotel nearby that would defeat the purpose.
Off duty RPOs stay at the hotel--on duty are just that-on duty and would be hanging out watching around Meghan's house if Harry was there.Same for a high ranking royal such as Harry. He has 24 h protection - and they stay in a hotel nearby.
I'm not so sure that Harry's RPOs always stay in nearby hotels even on personal trips. I read that during the recent African holiday the Protection Officers (and on some parts of the trip, local forces too) had stayed in tents along with Harry and Meghan.
RPOs certainly were on the houseboat on an African river trip he and Chelsy took, I remember, and there was a report that they were there in Chelsy's London flat once when an alarm went off in the middle of the night, caused by it being accidentally being switched on near the bed. That was probably embarrassing for the couple when the RPOs rushed in.
I believe that two of them at a time do set up quarters in Meghan's Toronto home (probably in the spare bedroom) when Harry is there. They have to be near him at all times, eating, sleeping, shopping, enjoying himself. If they were in a hotel nearby that would defeat the purpose.
I think Chelsy's apartment in London was at least two-bedroomed, possibly more. I didn't mean that any RPOs would be sleeping at Meghan's house, but a spare bedroom could have at least a table, TV, couple of chairs in it even temporarily, while the couple were in the living room, kitchen. I suppose Meghan is probably used to their near presence now, as his exes were.
Well if the complaints were as "sensible" as the ones in the article about Prince Andrew, you just can't take it seriously. Only two trips were personal, the rest were working or official. I think a lot of nit-pickers got all snippy because he always takes his golf clubs . . . billions of dollars of trade deals were and still are finessed on the golf links.. . . The complaint people have about the stop over is the cost of RPO. Unless the RPO are going to bunk all together in that room, they are going to need a hotel room. Chelsy's flat in London doesn't have that issue. The RPO's not on duty would simply be home. In Toronto you don't have that option.
Well if the complaints were as "sensible" as the ones in the article about Prince Andrew, you just can't take it seriously. Only two trips were personal, the rest were working or official. I think a lot of nit-pickers got all snippy because he always takes his golf clubs . . . billions of dollars of trade deals were and still are finessed on the golf links.
Harry isn't shirking his obligations and I suspect the shortfall for extra travel and hotel accommodation for RPO's is picked up by Prince Charles. However, with the way things seem to be ramping up I am unsure whether staying at her home is actually feasible anymore and perhaps Meghan joins Harry and entourage at a Hotel overnight or for the weekend.
This is something I don't understand (I'm American) wouldn't the RPO cost money even if this was a personal trip? I was under the impression that RPOs were always tax payer funded.No argument from me that they are ridiculous
But its not a question if Harry's trips are work or not. There is no doubt. No one is arguing he is going to Chicago for work. It is about making a stop over in Toronto on the way back. Even if the rest of the trip is not on tax dollars, the RPOs are. So when he stops in Toronto, he is costing more tax money. Now if it was published that Charles was paying for the hotel costs of the RPO, then perhaps it would stop the talk. That isn't usually something the royals cover.
Yes, like his daughters, Andrew gets the bum wrap. Probably why they get it. All of his trips get turned into holidays or golf trips. Technically golf could be considered on the job as he is actually patron of a number of golf charities and organizations. Royals all have some down time on longer trips.
Toronto would be IMO only option for Meghan and Harry right now. Its mid week, she will be in middle of filming. I don't see her doing a 24 hour trip to see him in Chicago. She wouldn't attend the event anyways, unless she had a private invite from the Obamas in her name.
But its not a question if Harry's trips are work or not. There is no doubt. No one is arguing he is going to Chicago for work. It is about making a stop over in Toronto on the way back. Even if the rest of the trip is not on tax dollars, the RPOs are. So when he stops in Toronto, he is costing more tax money. Now if it was published that Charles was paying for the hotel costs of the RPO, then perhaps it would stop the talk.
This is something I don't understand (I'm American) wouldn't the RPO cost money even if this was a personal trip? I was under the impression that RPOs were always tax payer funded.
My recollection of the complaints about Harry's stopover in Toronto following one of his tours was that the tab press got all up in arms and bitchy because he gave them the slip - they'd thought he'd return directly to London and his camp did nothing to disabuse them of this notion and when they found out he surfaced in Toronto they were ticked and went after him criticizing the fictional 'cost'.
It didn't make sense at the time, once his tour duties were fulfilled, IMO he was free to go where ever he wanted & owed the press no details of his private plans & if the government has assigned full time RPOs to be w/ him 24/7 then so be it.
The agreement however between the royal family and the government is that they will return to the UK after official tours and not undertake private tours on the back of those official tours. This is a result of Andrew's perceived abuse of this approach of adding on days to the end of official tours for personal benefits. When they do this they have a lot of the expenses of the private visit paid for by the taxpayers due to the cost of the public part of the tour and that is deemed unacceptable for the BRF these days.
Harry is therefore not 'off official duties' until his return to the UK is recorded in the CC and so he did break the agreed rules when he decided to make his stopover in Toronto. Given the RPOs were also lead to believe they were returning to the UK and then had to make a side-tour he showed a lack of respect for them as well.
Why would the RPOs need to fly first class? Business class is more than sufficient I would think and 4 star hotels are also quite decent... And I also expect the meal allowance to be rather generous, not just decent. However, all of that is a decision of the government, so any complains should be directed to them and not the BRF.The cost is in the accommodation, travel and meal expenses not their salaries.
The teams are at least six person teams with all on duty for 8 hours a day. When on duty they are with the principal.
When not on duty and in the London they can go home and that is fine but when the principle is away from home the non-on-duty officers have to be put up in first-class hotels (single occupancy by the way) and provided with a decent meal allowance for all meals. The non-on-duty officers also have to travel first class.
Those actually on duty travel in the same class as the principle - so if Harry travels cattle class then so do two of the officers. They will stay in the same accommodation e.g. when Eugenie stayed in a hostel in India so did two of her RPOs (she still had them then) but the rest of the team were in the closest five-star hotel.
If a royal is away from the UK for more than a week the teams also change over with first class airfares in each direction for each team.