Police have responded to security alerts at Harry and Meghan’s Southern California home nine times in nine months, official figures have revealed
Since Harry and Meghan’s move to their Montecito mansion with one-year-old son Archie in July last year, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office has dealt with calls recorded as phone requests, alarm activations and property crimes.
The data, that was obtained using Freedom of Information laws, was released after the couple spoke of their security concerns in their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Officers were called four times in July last year after Harry and Meghan’s move to Montecito from Los Angeles, where they had been temporarily living since leaving Canada at the start of the pandemic.
One call is listed as a phone request while the others are labelled “alarm activations” and all occurred within the early hours of the morning.
This comes after Prince William has said that the Royal family is not racist and that he has not yet spoken to his brother Harry since his and Meghan’s shocking interview. When he was asked whether or not he had spoken to his brother Prince Harry yet, the Duke of Cambridge replied by saying: “I haven’t spoken to him yet but I plan to.”
An August request is listed as “Misc Priority Incdnt”, while there was a further alarm in November.
At 4.13pm on Christmas Eve, sheriff’s deputies were called to the property after a man was alleged to have trespassed.
Officers returned to the mansion on Boxing Day at 2.54pm for a call listed under “Property Crimes”.
The most recent call was at 2.21am on 16 February this year and is listed as an alarm activation. Representatives for Harry and Meghan have declined to comment.
A spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office declined to provide further details about the calls.
The couple’s security arrangements hit the news following their tell-all interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey in March.
The duchess, who is pregnant with a daughter, said that she sent letters pleading with the Royal family to not take away his personal protection officers, warning that he was facing death threats.
This comes after Meghan and Harry’s tell-all interview with the American talk-show host Oprah Winfrey has aired in the US, with the Duchess of Sussex claiming that “concerns” were raised about the colour of baby Archie’s skin before he was born, with her saying that she had suicidal thoughts during her time as part of the Royal Family.
The duke said he never thought he would have his UK taxpayer-funded security detail removed upon deciding to take a step back from his royal duties.
He said: “I was born into this position. I inherited the risk. So that was a shock to me.”
Explaining his decision to leave Canada for the US during the early days of the pandemic, Harry said: “The biggest concern was while we were in Canada, in someone else’s house, I then got told, short notice, that security was going to be removed. By this point, courtesy of the Daily Mail, the world knew our exact location.
“So suddenly it dawned on me – ‘Hang on a second, the borders could be closed, we’re going to have our security removed, who knows how long lockdown is going to be, the world knows where we are, it’s not safe, it’s not secure, we probably need to get out of here’.”
