Voices: The brutal truth is that Harry and Meghan are no longer relevant to the state – so don’t qualify for security

The news that Prince Harry has graciously offered to pay the police for use of their specialist protection team has inevitably created yet another social dividing line. It’s becoming one of life’s great rules: you can either be with Team Sussex or you can be against them.

The outrage on both sides of this debate have been explosive, one side questioning his audacity to judicially review the Home Office’s decision, denying him the use of police protection, and the other spreading conspiracy theories about the plot to weaken his security on purpose for some nefarious reason.

The utter nonsense that circulates about brand Sussex is dizzying. There is no deep state conspiracy against the sixth in line to the throne. There seems to be a straightforward principle here, as far as the state is concerned he is no longer relevant, having chosen to step back from his official duties. That is the brutality of public life, and how constitutional monarchies work.

As a former Home Office special adviser, I have seen first-hand the process of protection. Contrary to the downright crazy assertions made on Twitter, Her Majesty the Queen herself does not make direct requests of the Home Secretary to change the status of her or any member of her family’s security. That is done independently by the security professionals. This is not a punishment, it is not part of a vendetta, there is an independent process based on a threat assessment.

When a senior figure like a Cabinet minister inevitably faces his or her fall from grace and departure from office, the first thing that is stripped from them is their protection team. No one worries about this even though attacks against politicians are on the rise, as we’ve been cruelly reminded with the killing of two MPs in recent years. Nor does anyone remember that those in the most senior positions are still subjects of interest to hostile state actors and terrorist organisations. Northern Ireland ministers were granted protection for life in line with the threat to their person once they had done the job. The risk faced by Harry and Meghan is not comparable.

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Indeed, the idea that someone who can simply afford to pay and can have at their disposal a critical arm of the state, which serves the public as a whole, is a dangerous precedent, in my mind. The kinds of places where the police can be bought is not, one would suggest, an ideal situation.

If the Duke of Sussex is so concerned about taxpayers’ money, perhaps he might think again before starting legal proceedings against the Home Office who are already having to deal with a huge number of cases, many that are vexatious, that too is a cost burden endured by ordinary folk and one that they will be pretty annoyed about paying.

One can understand his personal worries given his former position but what is his family planning on doing in the UK that would warrant a police presence? Every parent has anxiety about keeping their families safe and yes, he is significantly more high profile than most but it doesn’t entitle him to special access to the services we all depend on.

Salma Shah was special adviser to Sajid Javid, from 2018 to 2019. She was also a special adviser at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport