According to reports, Dutch police will provide armed security to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their visit to the Netherlands.
It has been reported that the couple will go to The Hague for the Invictus Games later this week. This will be the couple’s first excursion outside of the United States since they stepped down as senior royals.
However, palace sources have slammed their choice to attend the event after Harry stated it was “too hazardous” to go to the UK.
They did not attend the late Prince Philip’s memorial ceremony last month, and Harry is presently embroiled in a court dispute with the UK government over a decision to reduce his protection.
According to sources and media reports in the Netherlands, the Games are viewed as a high-profile event deserving of protection by the Dutch national police’s DKDB Royal and Diplomatic Security Service and another state security service.
Meanwhile, the tabloid adds that Harry and Meghan, who will no longer be working royals in 2020, will neither stay with the Dutch Royal Family or have an audience with King Willem-Alexander or Queen Maxima during their visit to The Hague.
However, the King is anticipated to attend the closing ceremony, and his aunt, Princess Margriet, is the games’ honorary chairwoman and will be present for the opening ceremony.
Harry has only visited to the UK twice since relocating to California: once for Prince Philip’s funeral and once to unveil a statue of his late mother, Princess Diana.
Meghan and their son Archie have not returned. Lilibet was born in America and had never visited Britain.
Their travel to the Netherlands will take them just over an hour from London, and the Games will also coincide with the Queen’s 96th birthday next week.
And, according to royal analyst and author Robert Jobson, Harry’s absence from the UK but readiness to travel to The Hague has “nothing to do with safety, but his feeling needed” – and he believes the prince’s planned tell-all biography will play a significant role in this.
He told the Mirror: “In the Hague he will be feted. His brothers and sisters in arms, past and present, rightly praise the Afghanistan veteran for giving back to the armed forces and not forgetting them.
