Royal security shake-up plan sparks fears among team charged with keeping Queen and her family safe

 
Safety fears: the Met insists there will be no impact on the security of the Royals, including Princes William and Harry, and the Duchess of Cambridge

Scotland Yard has launched a major shake-up of protection for the Royal Family, the Evening Standard can reveal.

The decision has caused uproar among Royal and Diplomatic Protection Department officers charged with guarding the Queen and her family, including high-profile members Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

Prince Charles was sufficiently concerned on learning of the proposed changes that he raised them with senior Met officers at Assistant Commissioner level. But the measures were implemented regardless of his intervention. It means the Yard’s elite SO14 department has effectively been stripped of crucial back-up officer support.

The Met said the move is not about cost-cutting and insists there will be no impact on the safety of the royal family. But it will affect the security of all senior royals, including the Queen, Prince Philip, Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Now SO14 officers, who work very long hours, are threatening to operate under European Union 40-hour-week guidelines after some of their colleagues were bluntly informed by email that they were “no longer in post”. A claim that the move will cut costs comes amid heightened security concerns, particularly the threat of home-grown terrorists.

One senior source told the London Evening Standard: “The personal protection officers have been told effectively it is over to them to sort it out.

“Obviously it raises serious concern about the effectiveness of the department and will have an impact on the safety of the royal family. For the first time it seems Scotland Yard is putting a price on protecting the royal family. In the past this was not even a consideration — security came first.”

Junior royals, including Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, have already had their security details either reduced or removed.

This move will also impact on the security details of the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

Informed sources confirmed to the Standard that some officers had been redeployed from the Metropolitan Police’s diplomatic protection group to Scotland Yard’s specialist firearms unit as part of a broader restructuring across the force.

The sources said both units used armed officers and performed similar roles and added that the move was designed to improve efficiency, primarily by reducing management and ending duplication.

The sources added that officers from the firearms unit would be deployed to assist their colleagues in diplomatic protection when needed.

A figure has not been published about the cost of royal security. But it is estimated to be about £128 million annually for both royal and VIP protection.

Scotland Yard has struggled to reduce a fifth of its budgets under government spending cuts.

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard declined to comment on the specific detail of the changes but insisted there would be no impact on the safety of the royal family and others safeguarded by diplomatic protection officers.

She added: “For security reasons we do not discuss the protection of individuals or how it is delivered.

“Taking into full account the threat and risk levels, there has been some re-organisation to ensure that we deliver the most effective policing service to all of London including those who are protected by the Diplomatic Protection Group.”

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