Nicolai Haugsted
Harry and Meghan given blunt warning after repeatedly speaking about their security.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have spent years arguing that security is not something they can afford to take lightly. Their concerns have followed the couple from Britain to California and repeatedly surfaced during Harry’s visits to the UK.
A former senior Scotland Yard officer now believes part of the solution is considerably simpler.
Dai Davies, who previously headed the Metropolitan Police’s royal protection command, has warned the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that publicly discussing security while sharing details of their family life could work against the very protection they are seeking.
His advice contains little diplomatic padding.
“Shut up.”
Former protection chief warns about giving away clues
Davies led Scotland Yard’s royal protection operation between 1994 and 1998, giving him direct experience of the security considerations surrounding senior members of the Royal Family.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, he argued that public comments and online posts can provide useful information to someone with malicious intentions.
“It, one, attracts attention, and secondly, it provides anyone who would want to cause harm to any of them or anyone related – you’re giving them clues,” Davies said.
Asked what he would advise Harry and Meghan to do, Davies kept his answer exceptionally brief.
“Shut up, end of story, shut up.”
His criticism is aimed at an unusual contradiction he sees in the Sussexes’ approach. Harry has repeatedly spoken publicly about threats to his family, while the couple also maintain a public profile that occasionally offers glimpses of their children and private lives.
Davies argues that less information is better when personal safety is involved.
Security has followed Harry for years
Harry’s fight over protection did not begin with the latest warning.
Questions surrounding his security arrangements have persisted since he and Meghan stepped back as working members of the Royal Family in 2020 and moved to North America.
Harry subsequently challenged the British government’s decision to change the level of taxpayer-funded police protection available to him during visits to the UK.
Britain’s Court of Appeal rejected his challenge in May 2025. Judges concluded that the security arrangements created after his departure from royal duties had not been shown to be unlawful. Harry said afterward that the decision left him unable to safely bring Meghan and their children to Britain.
“I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point,” Harry told the BBC following the ruling.
Archie and Lilibet reportedly caught up in security concerns
Fresh attention has now fallen on Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Reports cited in the original account claim security considerations contributed to the children changing schools, with traffic said to have caused difficulties for a protective convoy.
Davies’s intervention goes beyond any individual journey or school run, however.
His argument focuses instead on information – who has access to it, how much is shared publicly and whether apparently harmless details can become useful when pieced together.
Harry and Meghan have occasionally shared photographs of Archie and Lilibet while generally keeping both children away from the level of publicity associated with working royals.
Harry has previously linked his concerns about security to the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who died following a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by photographers.
Speaking after losing his UK security case, Harry said his “worst fears have been confirmed by the whole legal disclosure in this case.”
The Home Office, meanwhile, has maintained that Harry’s security should be considered according to the circumstances of individual visits rather than automatically provided at the same level he received as a working royal.
